Backlash to Hollywood petition demanding release of Roman Polanski

Whoopi always states her opinion as if it is the right one. I can't stand watching her talk down to people as if they're dumb just because their opinion differs from hers. This guy manipulated a child into having sex with him and Whoopi should get it through her head that Polanski was wrong.

also she has a very silly name

Anytime someone says no, it's rape-rape and apparently that is what happened.

Good pull, beatnik. Very relevant, very true.

I stand corrected, but if the average joe committed this crime, I doubt bail would have even been granted to enable a fleeing to escape a jail sentence.

I am fairly liberal and if I thought the girl looked older, lied about her age and thought it might have been consensual, I would not be as outraged. I would still think it was wrong. This was rape.

Hmmm, let's see 42 days for raping & drugging a 13 year old girl, & stealing her innocence. Seems like she's the one who's had to serve the life sentence! He continued on with his abhorrent behavior - do some research on the guy. A couple of years later he was involved with 15 year old Natasha Kinski & it just goes on from there. I hope they lock the guy up FOREVER & shame on anyone who would dare defend him because he's a filmmaker!!!!

feb11, i agree it's a horrible crime that should be punished by much more than 42 days. i also feel that, if a defendant has agreed to a plea bargain with the prosecution under specific conditions (no matter if we agree with those conditions or not), it is unethical for the judge to then change their mind. edjoyproductions, thank you for your response and i agree that, had he not been who he was, it is very unlikely that he would have been given a bail amount he was able to pay.
to play devil's advocate for a moment, when you consider what the man had gone through in his life (mother killed in the holocaust, wife and unborn child murdered by the manson family), it's not really a surprise that he ended up doing something awful.
no matter what, i think if the victim wants this resolved quickly, it should be resolved, but also he should have to face whatever consequences there are. i think a lot of the people who signed the petition just want this whole thing to be over with. i also think the court should honor whatever plea bargain they'd originally made with him, but that he should suffer consequences for leaving the country.

I am aware of Roman Polanski's own tragedies, which is why I originally sympathized with him. I was twelve years old when this happened and I, myself was a flirt that would lie about my age. Even at the time, as young as I was, I knew about Sharon Tate and felt sorry for him. Especially because I wondered about whether the girl had led him on.

Now that I am in my forties, I have an understanding as to why there is "statutory rape". Teenagers are naive and hormonally insane. It is unconscionable for an adult to take that kind of advantage of a child.

It is the drugging and rape committed on a child that protested and was held against her will that I have a problem with.

I'd also like to add that many people have had horrible things happen to them, it does not give them an excuse to go out and do something horrible to someone else ever.

Hi spuglisi, I'm not sure what all this talk about judicial ethics is. Allegedly, Polanski fled the country because he claimed he thought the judge was going to renege on a plea deal. This never happened of course because he ran, so any discussion of judicial ethics violations is irrelevant!

Now, about your devil's advocate argument, he wasn't exactly up for husband of the year when he was married to Sharon Tate because he admitted cheating on her. Secondly, but I think more importantly I don't want to hear anything about his personal tragedies. You didn't see him advocating for the release of any of the "manson family" based on their good behavior & yes, some of them were model prisoners. If one of the nazis involved in his mom's death had been arrested a few years ago (as they have been up until a year or 2 ago) do you think that he would say it's okay let him go he's lived a law abiding life for the last 50 or 60 years. I doubt it! Most of the nazis would tell you they were just doing their job & following orders. Most of them probably never harmed anyone before WWII & most certainly lived law abiding lives complete with families & picket fences after the war, but if they were caught were they given some special dispensation for "just following orders" & living nice lives after - NO! Nor should they have been.

We all suffer tragedies in life to some extent & that doesn't give anyone the right to harm others because of what they have suffered. Instead of feeling sorry for Polanski & thinking about what he went through maybe you could try shifting your thoughts to Samantha the girl (13) who was drugged, raped & sodomized by this creep. How about Natasha Kinski who was 15 when he got involved with her & how about his wife of the last 20 years whom he married when she was 22 & he was pushing 60. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior & he certainly has a track record. Imagine how many other victims are out there who haven't come forward or have been paid off.

Oh, by the way, when he fled the country he broke any plea bargain he may have had in place, so NO the court should not honor anything. They should lock him away FOREVER!