Polanski Threatens to Sue Academy After Expulsion - Reports

09:15 GMT, 10 May 2018

The director, who has been on the run from the US since 1978, when he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer, was removed from the Oscars organization following the rise of the #METOO movent. Polanski, who lives in France, this week dismissed the movement as "mass hysteria."

Sputnik

Famous director Roman Polanski threatened to sue the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after it voted to expel him from its ranks, claiming that the decision was illegal and demanding a hearing.

The news agency France Presse has obtained a copy of a letter, which was written by Polanski's attorney Harland Braun, saying the proper procedure is required by law in order to expel the director from the organization.

"We are not here contesting the merits of the expulsion decision, but rather your organization's blatant disregard of its own Standards of Conduct in, as well its violations of the standards required by California Corporations Code, Section 7341," Braun wrote in the letter sent on Tuesday to to the academy's president John Bailey.

Previously, Polanski stated in an interview with Newsweek Polska, that the #METOO movement, which led to his expulsion, is another case of mass hysteria and hypocrisy, comparing it to the era of McCarthyism in the US.

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Polanski pleaded guilty to the sexual assault case against then 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in 1977. However, a year later he fled the US after learning, that his plea deal might be left out of consideration. In 2002 Polanski produced and directed "The Pianist", a World War II drama, which won three Academy Awards including the Best Director award.