Talent does not mean a free pass

Small wonder so many people think Hollywood is out of touch with “mainstream” American values.

You have to be pretty far out of anything resembling the mainstream of culture to advocate that a man who admitted forcing himself on a 13-year-old girl should get a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Yet that’s what a lot of Hollywood luminaries are doing when it comes to Roman Polanski.
Polanski is unquestionably a brilliant director. “Chinatown” is one of the great movies of all time and his “MacBeth” left a searing impression on me in high school.

But he also did something very bad way back in 1978, and he skipped the country to avoid facing the music. He needs to come back to the U.S. and place himself before the court. If there was prosecutorial misconduct, as has been credibly alleged, that needs to be addressed — by the courts.

The fact that the victim, now in her 40s, does not want prosecution is irrelevant. It’s not her call.
The outcry to free Polanski is a reflection of the double standards at play when the rich and talented run afoul of the law. Nobody would be pleading for immediate release of some Joe who did what Polanski admitted doing.

The rich, powerful and talented cannot be above the law, or we have no justice at all.

Jim Cornelius, Editor