I wasn't going to get into the Roman Polanski arrest debate,seeing as how he was already going to face the music there and no amount of words could affect that one way or the other. However,listening to some of the defenses and cries of "injustice" from the Hollywood community regarding this whole messy matter,I think it's time to put my two cents in.
Since the woman in question who was victimized by Polanski back when she was thirteen has said she's forgiven him and doesn't want to prosecute,I was willing to respect her wishes. Yet,after Whoopi Goldberg and Melissa Gilbert went on The View with this as a Hot Topic in which Whoopi insisted that this wasn't a "rape-rape",my mind was changed rather quickly:
Whoopi has clarified her statement since then,but one of the things that really bothered me was Melissa Gilbert's notion of a "gray,mushy area" due to the girl's mother having brought her daughter to the house where it happened. To me,that's like saying "Well,if all of those people hadn't taken their kids to Jonestown,they wouldn't had to poison the fruit juice."
It doesn't matter who took her over there,the point is that a violent crime was committed and that Polanski has avoided the consequences of his actions for over thirty years. For Whoopi to go on and on about how sexual mores are different in Europe and Melissa Gilbert giving a wink and a nod to the notion that maybe Roman would be keeping a sharper eye on his own daughter is crass,to say the least(plus,what would Pa Ingalls think,Half Pint?)
Fortunately,not everyone in the entertainment business thinks that Polanski deserves a free pass. Folks like Salma Hayek,Greg Grunberg and Chris Rock are making their opinions well known here and good for them:
It's time that Hollywood inoculated itself from Director-itis,that blind spot where anything a director does in his personal life should be pardoned because he's a great artist(it's similar to Lead Singer Syndrome in the music world). It's no surprise to me that Woody Allen was one of the first to sign a petition for dropping this case and some of the others who did the same really ought to rethink this through.
Yes,I know that Polanski lost loved ones to the Nazis during WWII and Sharon Tate due to the hideous Manson family,but that does NOT give him free license to violate another person. Plenty of other people had suffered similar,if not worse,tragedies in their lives and have gone out of their way to become better human beings,out of respect for the memories of their dearly departed. Nobody's perfect or expected to cope with tough curves that life throws you the same way as someone else does,yet acting like this is just a minor quibble that needs to be swept under the rug is wrong,no matter how you slice it.
Some say that Hollywood has no morals,especially when it comes to their own. That's not true-the difference between right and wrong within that circle is not a foreign concept. It's just easier for some to make excuses for the sins of others than to make what may be an unpopular stand amongst their peers. Sorry to have to go down such a serious road,folks,but I think it may help more of the silent majority in the entertainment industry to speak their minds if they know just how all of us feel.
Hollywood supporters of Polanski,you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself. If you can make movies about how terrible rape is,no matter what the circumstances,then you can also take that same message into the real world where it counts the most:
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