In 2009, after fugitive cinema auteur/child rapist Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police following a request by the U.S. Justice Department that he be extradited to serve his sentence, Harvey Weinstein authored an op-ed arguing that “Roman Polanski is a man who cares deeply about his art and its place in the world.” The article dismissed Polanski’s rape and sodomizing of a 13-year-old actress as “a so-called crime.”
Weinstein then signed am infamous petition for Polanski, along with many Hollywood celebrities.
Last week, Academy Award-winning British actress Emma Thompson appeared on the BBC to denounce Weinstein’s conduct. Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis asked her, since she felt so strongly about sexual assault, why she had signed the Polanski petition.
No, I have not heard or read that any U.S. journalist has had the courage or integrity to ask the question of other actresses who have similarly flip-flopped. Thompson she said she had signed “without really thinking about it . . . I had been absolutely bamboozled by my respect for his art.”
Sure. Emma, that explains it What woman doesn’t sign a “Forgive the rapist” petition without thinking about it?
2. Hollywood Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg took to Facebook to post a provocative exposition on his early days at Weinstein’s Miramax Films, with a tough kicker: “Everybody fucking knew.” If everybody fucking knew, is it really believable that the Clintons, the Obamas, the other Democrats who gleaned millions from Harvey and Harvey’s connections, and the journalists that never exposed him at the cost of undermining their favorite party didn’t know?
No. It isn’t believable.
Ethics Alarms 