topaz | Dear Hollywood folks

Dear Hollywood folks:

I like you. I really, really like you. Lots of you are really my kind of people: funny, engaging, passionate about making great movies, earnest about progressive change (if a bit shallow in your politics, but lots of us are guilty of that mistake sometimes). I confess: I am more susceptible to show biz gossip than I like to let on, and am liable to click through on the latest celebrity news quickly when no one's looking. I care, guys.

So it is only with the deepest sincerity and concern that I ask you today to shut the fuck up about Roman Polanski already.

Seriously! I don't know what you think you're doing, but it's not helping. It's not helping anyone. It's not helping him, it's not helping the situation and it's really not helping you.

Look, I know there are complexities at play here. I know that the victim has, for most of the last 30 years, wanted to put the case behind her, and since January has wanted the case dismissed. I know that Polanski was on the verge of locking in a plea bargain when the judge fucked him like.... well, like a 44-year-old director fucks a 13-year-old girl, I guess. No one, as far as I can tell, believes that he poses a threat to anyone at this point. I get it.

But please let us return to first principles: this is a man who pleaded guilty to raping a thirteen-year-old girl. That is not usually classified as a victimless crime, Hollywood folks! While the judge's apparent decision to reneg on accepting a plea bargain was a rotten thing to do, it does not reduce or lessen his guilt and it arguably does not justify fleeing justice for 30 years.

So if you want to lobby for his freedom by urging that the judge dismiss the charges, or sentence him to time already served: that is a fine argument! Go for it.

But in the meantime, kindly do not:

tell us that he should be excused because "he's a brilliant guy, and he made a little mistake 32 years ago"
refer to raping a thirteen-year-old girl as a "so-called" crime
attempt to excuse it on the basis that "it wasn't rape rape"
dismiss the gravity of the issue because Polanski "is not responsible for killing anyone"

And above all, whatever you do, DO NOT allow Woody Allen within a HUNDRED MILES of commenting on this case. I mean, Jesus H. Christ on a camera dolly.

Or, as

muckefuck put it so eloquently: I ❤ Luc Besson.

I love you, guys. I really do. Now stop fucking up.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I certainly feel for her. But it's apparent that her wishes are irrelevant to anyone here.

Yes, in particular the media. She clearly wishes she could move back into obscurity. In fact, the quote from her in that article suggests that it isn't so much that she wants the charges dropped as that she wants the ATTENTION dropped and the only way to do that is to get the charges dropped.

In a perfect world, the media would let her have her privacy so she would feel free to have a quiet, happy life...THEN she could decide what, if anything, her position on Polanski's charges should be, from a position of not being desperate for it all to be OVER.

I'm pretty focused on her wishes. She made them clear at the time, which was when it should have mattered.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0610081polanski25.html and on.

Dear Hollywood folks

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