Roman Polanski and the despicable people who follow him

In 1977, Roman Polanski, then in his 40s, plied a 13 year old girl with alcohol and Quaaludes and then had oral, vaginal and anal sex with her despite her repeated pleas for him to stop. A plea bargain was arranged to spare the girl the trauma of a trial, and Polanski pled guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. After serving 42 days in prison for evaluation, Polanski fled the country before he could be sentenced. Recently, Polanski was detained in Switzerland where he was set to receive a lifetime achievement award and held pending review of an extradition request from the US. During his incarceration in Switzerland, the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers(SACD) hosted a petition for his release, eventually getting more than 100 people to sign in support of Polanski. Ultimately, Switzerland declined to extradite, citing problems with the extradition request. Polanski himself claims that he was justified in fleeing the US after serving just 42 days for child rape.

It should be noted that the victim in this case, now in her 40s, has asked that the charges pending against Polanski be dropped. She maintains that the sexual contact with Polanski was NOT consensual.

Even though the victim has called for a cessation of proceedings against Polanski, his acts warrant punishment. Polanski has claimed that he believed that 42 days in prison was the totality of his sentence. Now he believes that he is being persecuted and that he has been treated unjustly. Mr. Polanski, you forcibly raped a child who, while being too young to consent to the acts you forced upon her, was also impaired by the alcohol and drugs that you provided to her. You were not justified in leaving the country. You are not justified in remaining beyond the reach of the laws you willfully broke. You should be ashamed, sir. Your wife, who is championing your cause, should instead be ashamed. The people who signed your petition should be ashamed. Whoopi Goldberg should be ashamed of her comments on The View. The fact that Polanski pled down the charges, does not exonerate him of wrongdoing, Ms. Goldberg, and penetrating a minor child vaginally and anally against her will is RAPE by any definition! Goldberg's prevaricating notwithstanding, Mr. Polanski has no cause to be outraged at his detention. He committed a heinous crime and SHOULD be held accountable.

However, since Switzerland declined to extradite Polanski, the best thing that we as upstanding, law-abiding citizens (something Polanski clearly has not been) can do is to boycott his movies and the movies of those who support him. (Check http://tenangrypitbulls.com/rp/ for information on what films to avoid) Certainly, no matter how talented Polanski may be, we should not throw money at an admitted sex offender.