France Confirms That Most Of Europe Hates Roman Polanski

If this year's Oscars ceremony was a little too subdued and lacking in tear gas for your liking, may we direct your attention to France's Cesar Awards where director Roman Polanski nabbed Best Director for his latest movie An Officer And A Spy. The win led to French actress Adele Haenel winning Outstanding Achievement in Not Giving A Fuck when she got up and walked out on the rest of the ceremony:

This was then followed by a full-fledged riot in the streets of Paris because once again, despite what a bunch of old, tuxedo-wearing, French film nerds would have you believe, most of Europe hates Roman Polanski.

Just to refresh your memory, in 1977 Roman Polanski was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles, but hightailed it to Europe before he could be sentenced. So a few nights ago, when he won a prestigious award, the atmosphere outside the theater was emotional. Tears were shed, and not just because the cops fired tear gas into the crowd to prevent them from storming the show's red carpet. A show that Polanski himself decided not to attend after realizing he'd be surrounded by at least a few people who frown upon child rape.

Not to mention that Polanski's movie, An Officer And A Spy, is about a man who serves a life sentence for a crime he didn't commit - a story that so closely resembles Polanski's own misguided sense of wrongful persecution that the plot description alone is reason enough to riot. Give him an award for it and you're basically lighting the Molotovs for the protesters.

It's nice knowing that here in America, despite how tame the Oscars can seem by comparison, they're still a fine and honorable award ceremony that would never ever honor Polanski after what he did ... except for when they gave him the award for Best Director in 2003 for The Pianist. Merde.

Luis can be found on Twitter and Facebook. Check out his regular contributions to Macaulay Culkin's BunnyEars.com and his "Meditation Minute" segments on the Bunny Ears podcast. And now you can listen to the first episode on Youtube!