Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski Expelled From Film Academy
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has expelled comedian Bill Cosby and director Roman Polanski, just a week after Cosby's conviction for sexual assault.
In a statement Thursday, the Academy said that its Board of Governors voted Tuesday night to "expel" the two men "from its membership in accordance with the organization's Standards of Conduct."
On April 26, Cosby was found guilty of sexually assaulting a former Temple University women's basketball administrator at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. He faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
In 1977, Polanski pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting 13-year-old Samantha Geimer during a photo shoot. Prosecutors dropped charges that he drugged, raped and sodomized the girl, and in exchange, he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor. In 1978, on the eve of his sentencing, the Oscar-winner fled to France and has been a fugitive ever since.
In December, Los Angeles police confirmed they were investigating new claims that Polanski molested a woman in 1975, when she was 10 years old.
The Academy has more than 8,400 members and only two others have been expelled in its 91-year history. The membership of disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein was terminated in October following multiple allegations of sexual assault against him.
"The Godfather" actor Carmine Caridi was expelled in 2004 after screener copies of movies that were sent to him turned up online.