Polanski’s request to restore film academy membership denied
August 25, 2020 7:07PM AKDT
FILE – In this May 2, 2018, file photo, director Roman Polanski appears at an international film festival, where he promoted his latest film, “Based on a True Story,” in Krakow, Poland. A judge on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, denied Polanski’s request to restore his membership into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that bestows the Academy Awards two years after he was expelled from it for raping a minor. The fugitive film director sued in April 2019, asking the court to compel the organization to make him a member in good standing again. (AP Photo/File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has denied Roman Polanski’s request to restore his membership in the organization that bestows the Academy Awards two years after he was expelled from it for raping a minor. Polanski had asked the court to compel the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to make him a member in good standing again. The judge ruled the academy had a right to expel Polanski. The Oscar winner remains a fugitive after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and fleeing the U.S. the following year. Polanski’s lawyer says the 87-year-old director has no plans to appeal.
