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Woody Allen: Polanski Paid his Dues

15 years ago
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by ck
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Uhm…

Woody Allen supports Roman Polanski. Shocker!

Woody Allen recently came out in support of Roman Polanski, under house arrest over a 33-year-old child sex scandal, stating that he “was embarrassed by the whole thing,” “has suffered” and “has paid his dues.” He said Polanski is “an artist and is a nice person” who “did something wrong and he paid for it.” It wasn’t clear if Allen decided to voice his support for Polanski because he was being interviewed in France and they’re a lot more tolerant of those sorts of shenanigans there, or if Allen was simply able to relate to Polanski given his own sordid and embarrassing sexual past.

Allen and Soon-Yi. Weird...

Allen’s relationship with actress Mia Farrow ended in scandal in 1992, when, after seeing nude photos Allen had taken, she found out he was having an affair with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, then 22. Allen married Previn in 1997. Given that, isn’t getting this sort of endorsement from Woody Allen kind of like an accused murderer getting an endorsement from, like, OJ Simpson or something?

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ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

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5 Comments

  • Ahh…hadn’t heard about that. Nelkin apparently was 17 at the time – Seinfeld/Lonstein territory (almost exactly the same age differential even), but not quite as young as 13.

    I agree – embarrassment is not equivalent to jail time served.

    Though from a legal perspective I do wonder what happens when the victim (once they reach age, and assuming they are in full possession of mental function) drops the charges.

  • woody allen had an affair with a then underaged starlet named stacey nelkin, who is best known for roles in up the academy, halloween 3 and get crazy

    he may not be a pedophile, but he is definitely a hebephile themes of younger women and older men run through most of his movies…and i mean much younger women

  • Yes, but there’s gross, and there’s gross. Plus, Polanski’s guilt has never been in doubt, has it? Didn’t he plead guilty already? Polanski’s supposed ’embarrassment’ might be teshuvah enough for Woody, who seems to have a typically American distaste for typical American sexual morality, preferring instead the ‘sophisticated’ sexual mores of Europe, or at least the Europe that exists in the popular imagination, but I don’t think mere embarrassment really constitutes full payment of Polanski’s ‘dues’. He’s guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting a minor, not some kind of awkward social faux pas.

  • John, granted the comparison was not spot on except for the notion that Polanski drugging and having sex with a 13 year old is gross and Allen having sex with and taking nude photos of his son’s step sister and his girlfriend’s daughter is also gross.

  • Well…no…OJ Simpson was an accused murderer. So you’re suggesting an equivalency.

    Roman Polanski is an accused pedophile.

    Soon Yi was 22. There is nothing wrong with having a relationship with a 22 year old. Woody may have been 57 years old at the time, but having a relationship with someone 35 years younger than yourself isn’t a crime, as long as both individuals are of legal age.

    If it were Jerry Seinfeld, you might have an argument. Shoshanna Lonstein was 17, which may or may not have been legal depending upon where she lived. (He was 22 years older)

    I think the scandal with Soon Yi was people equated it to incest, which is also not exactly true.