Roman Polanski is threatening to sue the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for kicking him out last week.
The convicted sex offender’s lawyer on Tuesday sent the Oscar-awarding film organization’s president a letter arguing the group violated the law by expelling Polanski without giving him a chance to “present his side” — and demanding that he be reinstated.
“I am writing this letter to you to avoid unnecessary litigation,” Polanski’s attorney Harland Braun wrote to president John Bailey in the letter, which was published online by Deadline.
“Mr. Polanski has a right to go to court and require your organization to follow its own procedures, as well as California law. The only proper solution would be for your organization to rescind its illegal expulsion of Mr. Polanski and follow its own Standards of Conduct by giving Mr. Polanski reasonable notice of the charges against him and a fair hearing to present his position with respect to any proposed expulsion.”
The “Rosemary’s Baby” director was arrested in 1977 for drugging and raping 13-year-old Samantha Geimer during a photo shoot at actor Jack Nicholson’s home — and subsequently pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
But Polanski then fled the country before he could be sentenced and has been in self-imposed exile ever since.
The octogenarian, who has long argued that the sex was consensual, tried unsuccessfully to get the case tossed last year. He says he only ran because the judge wasn’t going to stick to the sentence agree to in his plea deal.