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By LINDSEY BAHR, AP Film Writer
The organization that bestows the Academy Awards said May 3 that it has expelled two prominent members convicted of sexual offenses, Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski, from its membership.
It’s the first major decision since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences implemented revised standards of conduct for its over 8,400 members following its expulsion of disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein in October. In Polanski’s case, the expulsion comes more than 40 years after he was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl he plied with champagne and Quaaludes during a photo shoot, and 15 years after he won a best director Oscar.
Polanski’s attorney Harland Braun said May 3 the decision “blindsided” the director, who learned of his expulsion from media reports.
Braun accused the Academy of failing to follow its rules by giving Polanski’s team a chance to respond to efforts to expel him. He said he and Polanski’s agent will ask for the director to be reinstated next week and they want a hearing before a new vote on his membership is taken.
The Academy wrote in a statement that its board of governors met Tuesday night and voted on Polanski and Cosby’s status in accordance with the new standards. Polanski’s membership dates back to 1969, and Cosby’s to 1996.
The organization’s rules state that its board of governors is entitled to enforce its standards of conduct, and “any member of the Academy may be suspended or expelled for cause.” Suspension or expulsion requires two-thirds approval of the 55-member board.
Polanski, who won a best director Oscar for 2002’s “The Pianist,” remains a fugitive after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and fleeing the United States the following year. Cosby was convicted last week of sexual assault in Pennsylvania, for drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion 14 years ago.
A spokesman for Cosby did not return a message seeking comment Thursday.
Before Weinstein, only one person is thought to have been expelled from the academy: Carmine Caridi, a character actor who had his membership revoked in 2004 for lending DVD screeners of films in contention for Oscars that ended up online.
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