JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ROMAN POLANSKI AND THE DANGEROUS CLAIM THAT ARTISTIC STATUS GRANTS ALLOWANCE FOR VIOLENT CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

JOHN CHUCKMAN

 

RESPONSE TO A COLUMN IN THE TELEGRAPHPolanski, of course, did not only have sex with a 13-year old girl, what Americans call “statutory rape.”

His lawyers at the time managed to cop a plea for that much lesser charge (plea bargains are an everyday ugly fact of American “justice”), and, still, he ran from justice.

Polanski is a real coward as well as a serious criminal.

A man who drugs a 13-year old girl and rapes her – sodomizing her – clearly deserves jail.

There always was a very dark side to Polanski, perhaps best exhibited in his early film “Repulsion.”

France’s long protection of him from justice has likely hurt a number of people over the years. Violent pedophiles are never reformed. It’s in the genes.

I have been an admirer of Polanski’s work, but the claim that being a creative figure exempts you from punishment for ugly deeds is an extremely dangerous one.

You can be a creative force and a criminal, and Polanski is a perfect example of the fact.