Cosby, Polanski Booted From The Academy

HOLLYWOOD, CA — Rapists Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski, once vaunted members of the entertainment industry elite, were kicked out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy announced Thursday.

The unceremonious expulsion marks the paradigm shift brought about by the #MeToo movement. It comes less than a decade after 100 of the world's most prestigious filmmakers signed a petition urging Polanski's release from a Swiss jail after he was briefly arrested on a fugitive warrant for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, and many years after Cosby admitted under oath to drugging women in order to have sex with them. The rare expulsion signals a reckoning for an industry famed for looking the other way in matters of sexual abuse.

Cosby was convicted last week of sexual assault, and he's been accused of rape by more than a dozen women. Polanski remains a fugitive in the 1977 rape of a young girl. A second woman last year accused him of molesting her in Pacific Palisades when she was 10-years-old in 1975.

Citing the organization's standards of conduct, the Academy's Board of Governors met Tuesday night and voted to expel both men.

"The board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy's values of respect for human dignity," according to the Academy.

In 2002, Polanski, a holocaust survivor won an Oscar for directing "The Pianist." He has been wanted by Southern California police for decades for drugging and molesting a 13-year-old model at the Los Angeles home of actor Jack Nicholson in 1977. He pleaded guilty to the crime in 1978, but fled to his native France before he could be sentenced to prison. For decades, authorities have made unsuccessful bids to extradite him while he continues to make films as a fugitive. Attorneys, as late as last year, tried to have the charges against him dropped.

Cosby was convicted last week in Pennsylvania on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. Numerous other women have come forward alleging that Cosby also drugged and assaulted them in attacks dating back to the 1980s.

The expulsions follow the Academy's decision in October to revoke the membership of disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual misconduct and assault by dozens of women. Weinstein has denied ever engaging in non-consensual sex.

Prior to Weinstein's expulsion, the only person who had ever been ousted from the Academy was actor Carmine Caridi, who was punished in 2004 after screener copies of movies that were sent to him turned up online.

RELATED:

• Roman Polanski Escapes Prosecution For Another Rape Allegatio
• Roman Polanski Accused Of Raping Another Girl
• Judge Refuses To Dismiss Roman Polanski 1977 Sex Case
• Roman Polanski's Rape Victim Asks Judge To End Case

City News Service contributed to this report.

Photos: Bill Cosby walks through the Montgomery County Courthouse for day fourteen of his sexual assault retrial, as the jury deliberates for the second day, on April 26, 2018 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. A former Temple University employee alleges that the entertainer drugged and molested her in 2004 at his home in suburban Philadelphia. More than 40 women have accused the 80 year old entertainer of sexual assault. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Roman Polanski attends the 'D'apres une histoire vraie' premiere at the 13th Zurich Film Festival on October 2, 2017 in Zurich, Switzerland. The Zurich Film Festival 2017 will take place from September 28 until October 8. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)