Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski Expelled From Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences have voted to expel Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski from their ranks. The Academy, which is the organization behind the Academy Awards, issued a statement that Cosby and Polanski have been expeled due to past violations of their conduct standards.

“The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity,” the statement read.

The news comes in the wake of Cosby’s conviction last week on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. Cosby has been a member of the Academy for years due to his work in film such as Uptown Saturday Night, A Piece of the Action and The Devil and Max Devlin.

In Polanski’s case, his conduct standard violations have long been known. The director of films like Rosemary’s Baby, Repulsion, and Chinatown fled the United States in 1978 after pleading guilty to the charge of Unlawful Sexual Intercourse with a minor, specifically a thirteen year-old girl. Polanski made the plea as part of a deal but fled the country when he learned that the judge planned to throw out the plea bargain. Last year, Polanski was accused of sexually assaulting two girls in the 1970s, a sixteen year-old in 1973 and a ten year-old in 1975.

The moves come after the Academy has been criticized in some circles by not taking action against Cosby, Polanski, James Tobin and others accused of sexual misconduct after Harvey Weinstein was expelled from the organization in October.