# What celebrities have spoken out AGAINST Roman Polanski? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227 "2009-10-01T13:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/1 "2009-10-01T13:20:11Z")
There’s Joy Behar, who was on CNN last night talking about how disgusted she was that so many celebrities were supporting him. There’s also Luc Besson, who, while he didn’t exactly say condemn the man, said that if he had a 13-year-old daughter who was raped, he’d want the perpetrator brought to justice. Are there any others? ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/2 "2009-10-01T13:26:35Z")
Does Kirstie Alley still count as a celebrity nowadays? She was ranting and raving about it all over her [Twitter feed](http://twitter.com/kirstiealley), though she finally moved on to other topics earlier today. That’s all I got, though. Seems like it’s the unpopular stance to take in Hollywood at the moment. BTW, I find it rather amusing that Woody Allen has chosen to speak up in support of Polanski. Given his own history, you’d think he’d have tried to stay out of this discussion altogether, no? ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/3 "2009-10-01T13:44:22Z")
Are there any recent (if not from the past few days, since _The Pianist_) quotes from Anjelica Huston? The statement she made at the time had a disturbingly “blame the victim” feel to it. Wondering if the passage of time has affected her perspective. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/4 "2009-10-01T17:17:54Z")
Neil Gaiman and Kevin Smith have both spoken out against Polanski. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Buttons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/5 "2009-10-01T17:51:35Z")
Howard Stern used to rant about him quite a bit, back when he was on free radio. ---
**Author:** ![foxymoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/6 "2009-10-01T18:25:42Z")
I remember seeing Ed Harris and Amy Madigan remain in their seats, not applauding, during the Oscars when Polanski won for directing The Pianist. The majority of the audience, at least the portion shown on TV, was giving him a standing ovation. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/7 "2009-10-01T18:31:52Z")
> [@foxymoron](#): > > I remember seeing Ed Harris and Amy Madigan remain in their seats, not applauding, during the Oscars when Polanski won for directing The Pianist. The majority of the audience, at least the portion shown on TV, was giving him a standing ovation. Are you sure that was Polanski? Because they **definitely** did that for Elia Kazan’s Lifetime Achievement Oscar a few year’s previously. ---
**Author:** ![foxymoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/8 "2009-10-01T18:34:05Z")
Oh, you are correct! I mushed the two events together in my head. And having just watched a clip of Polanski’s win on YouTube (with no Harris or Madigan in sight), I thank you for posting and clearing up my confusion. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/9 "2009-10-01T18:38:58Z")
wrong thread. sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/10 "2009-10-01T20:06:01Z")
[Jewel](http://twitter.com/jeweljk/status/4470489884). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/11 "2009-10-01T20:16:18Z")
[Jezebel](http://jezebel.com/5372261/are-anti+polanski-celebs-afraid-to-speak-up?skyline=true&s=x) has an interesting post (and links to articles) about why some celebrities may be afraid to speak up. > [@](#): > > Referring back to Mel Gibson getting a pass on his anti-Semitic bullshit, John Horn and Tina Daunt write, “The criticism of Hollywood at the time was that in a business contingent on relationships and currying favor with the powerful, no one was willing to denounce such a prominent artist.” Same deal here. As Silverstein told them, “I think people are afraid to talk in Hollywood. They are afraid about their next job.” (Silverstein, an independent marketer of women’s films, is very conscious that she’s risking her own professional ass by speaking out, by the way.) When you’ve got people like Harvey Weinstein out there pushing the petition, bloviating about government irresponsibility and characterizing child rape as a “so-called crime,” who’s going to stand up to that? ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/12 "2009-10-01T20:26:08Z")
There’s a post on a Chrismm’s [Dreamwidth](http://chrismm.dreamwidth.org/577422.html) that indexes the anti-Polanski celebrities/authors/etc. It’s a great page to read through for a bit of sanity after finding out that Tilda Swinton (Tilda Swinton for god’s sake!) has signed the release-Polanski petition. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/13 "2009-10-01T20:28:46Z")
Sherri Sheppard, if she counts. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/14 "2009-10-01T20:36:46Z")
John Legend (from the link). I knew that guy had a good head on his shoulders. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/15 "2009-10-01T21:44:56Z")
I’m wondering if there might be a sort of reverse-blacklisting in Hollywood against any celebrity who _didn’t_ sign the petition supporting Polanski. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/16 "2009-10-01T21:45:40Z")
Greg Grunberg (Matt on _Heroes_) has been [Twittering](http://twitter.com/GREGGRUNBERG) condemnatory tweets God I hate that noun in the past week. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/17 "2009-10-01T23:49:55Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Greg Grunberg (Matt on _Heroes_) has been [Twittering](http://twitter.com/GREGGRUNBERG) condemnatory tweets God I hate that noun in the past week. > [@Greg Grunberg's twiter](#): > > Because HE DRUGGED & RAPED A 13 YEAR OLD GIRL!! RT @TheSqueakit “I don’t see why Roman Polanski was arrested.” Wow, someone in Hollywood using common sense, whoda thunkit? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/18 "2009-10-02T00:54:53Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Greg Grunberg (Matt on _Heroes_) has been [Twittering](http://twitter.com/GREGGRUNBERG) condemnatory tweets God I hate that noun in the past week. I already have a ton of respect for Greg Grunberg and this is just one more reason to like him. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/19 "2009-10-02T01:12:21Z")
> [@Leiko](#): > > It’s a great page to read through for a bit of sanity after finding out that Tilda Swinton (Tilda Swinton for god’s sake!) has signed the release-Polanski petition. Why Tilda Swinton in particular? I don’t know much about her, but is she a feminist icon or something? ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227/20 "2009-10-02T01:18:08Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Are you sure that was Polanski? Because they **definitely** did that for Elia Kazan’s Lifetime Achievement Oscar a few year’s previously. I distinctly remember when he won for that movie and people jumped to their feet in the audience. Jack Nicholson was (for some reason) sitting next to Nicholas Cage and tried to pull him to his feet and he stayed sitting. Streep, Nicholson… almost everyone was clapping wildly. Angelica Huston stayed seated. They made a point to show her [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-spoken-out-against-roman-polanski/512227.md?page=2)