The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to expel Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski from its membership. The Academy's board met Tuesday night and voted on the men's status in accordance with the institution's standards of conduct.
The news comes just a week after Cosby was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault in Philadelphia, during the second trial of charges brought against him by Andrea Constand. The conviction was the first of its kind in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Since Cosby’s conviction, reruns of The Cosby Show have been pulled from Bounce TV, and the Television Academy has removed his name from their site.
On Thursday, Cosby’s wife Camille released a public statement defending her husband. "The overall media, with their frenzied, relentless demonization of him and unquestioning acceptance of accusers' allegations without any attendant proof, have superseded the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, which guarantee due process and equal protection, and thereby eliminated the possibility of a fair trial and unbiased jury,” she said. “Bill Cosby was labeled as guilty because the media and accusers said so."
The organization also expelled Harvey Weinstein back in October, when dozens of women came forward with sexual assault and harassment allegations against the disgraced producer.
Meanwhile, Polanski has been on the run for the past 40 years after fleeing the country while waiting on sentencing for statutory rape in 1978.
Read the AMPAS' full statement below:
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors met on Tuesday night (May 1) and has voted to expel actor Bill Cosby and director Roman Polanski from its membership in accordance with the organization’s Standards of Conduct. The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity.
