Man, you don’t want to get on Cokie Roberts’ bad side. During a Web roundtable discussion for Sunday’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos, the esteemed political analyst weighed in on the ongoing firestorm over director Roman Polanski’s recent arrest with this blunt assessment: “Roman Polanski is a criminal. You know, he drugged and raped and sodomized a child. And then was a fugitive from justice. As far as I’m concerned, just take him out back and shoot him.” Even assuming she didn’t mean her comments to be taken literally, there’s something jarring about hearing the words “take him out back and shoot him” come out of the mouth of a regular NPR commentator—let alone one with a chipper name like Cokie.
In the wake of Polanski’s arrest in connection with his 1978 conviction for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old, opinion has been sharply divided between those who sympathize with the director, citing his artistic achievements, his own tragic past as a Holocaust survivor, and his decades of exile, and those who believe he should finally face the punishment he deserves for his crimes. Polanski’s victim, Samantha Geimer, has stated that, after all these years, she’d like to see the case against him dropped entirely. Roberts, though, is having none of that. Some would say her call to “take him out back and shoot him” goes too far—we’re a nation governed by laws, not vigilantes. Then again, her unvarnished anger clearly speaks to the sense of deep moral outrage and disgust so many of us feel toward Polanski and his defenders.
What do you think? Is Roberts’ Charles Bronson-style take on the Polanski case too extreme? Or does it strike an emotional chord with you?
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The fact that this article’s author takes more issue with Roberts’ comments than Polanski’s actions are quite telling.
My sense of it was that the article is not about whether Polanski committed a terrible crime or not; that’s a given. But Roberts’ response is sort of overreacting a bit, at least in my mind. Maybe that’s just because I don’t believe in human beings killing/executing other human beings for any reason, and I don’t appreciate casual endorsement of lynchings, whether the person is actually dead serious or only semi-serious. As the author here states, it’s creepy. I certainly don’t agree with the people defending him because of his artistic talents, and I believe he deserves punishment, but I do find comments like Roberts’ unsettling.
I think tthe hyperbolic commenters below who agreed with Cokie Roberts is telling of today’s lingering climate of vengeance. Can y’all just go away like Bush?
Also, people generally are not defending Polanski because of his artistic talents – but because the judge reneged on his 90-day sentence deal for unlawful sex with a minor. Like it or not, it was a different era and different standards prevailed. We may think we have it “right” today in terms of sex abuse, but people (not just Polanski) didn’t think about it that way back then.
Unlike PhilipH below, I don’t believe punishing someone convicted of a crime is vengeance. It’s called justice. Oh, and there appears to be a new form of Godwin’s law, where the name of Bush is invoked.
PhilipH, you sound like a typical liberal who can’t make a coherent statement disagreeing with someone without saying the word “Bush”. There are too many like you in the world. Can’t you and your ilk go away?
People need to relax about language. Too many times there’s an uproar over something someone said, apologies are demanded, jobs are lost. Guess what? Sometimes people are going to say things we don’t like or don’t agree with. Learn to deal with it and get over it. Stop taking everything so seriously and stop teaching our children that all they have to do is pout and whine and they’ll get everyone to be nice to them.
I daresay anyone here would be in full agreement with Cokie Roberts if it were their own daughter that were the victim here.
“didn’t think about it way back then” You idiot, of course people did think about it & should today. I have 4 raised daughters & had it happened yesterday to one of them, shooting the SOB would be the least of my actions. he drugged & sodomized a 13 year old girl…I don’t care how old she is today, that doesn’t diminish what that weasel did “way back then’. If George Bush is still on your mind, ponder this, in a couple of years we’re voting in a new sheriff, in town and your ACORNS & Sierra club & PETA packs will be back in the green woods where they belong.
care for any more hyperbolic?
Wow Peter- how about getting some education. You are a shining example of the No Child Left Behind act. If you are going to berate a person, make sure you have the intelligence to back it up.
Yes, this.
I’m getting really sick of people defending poor, poor Roman Polanski because he had a hard life. So what if he raped a little girl, right? His wife was murdered; we can’t expect him to control himself. That little girl probably wanted to be sodomized, right, Josh?
Exactly. Perhaps Cokie’s phrasing was a little much, but her sentiment is right on. I don’t care who he is or what happened to him, there is no excuse for what he did, and he ought to be punished for it.
I think Cokie has the right idea. Anyone that could drug and rape a child should be literally taken out back and shot IMO.
Couldn’t agree more with you Matt.
my thoughts exactly, Matt
Anyone who supports Polanski supports the rape of children. I’m shocked Woopie and other Hollywood elite condone and are encouraging sexual acts with our youth.
I think that the “take him out back and shoot him” type of comments are honestly just a natural expansion of the discourse that has been occurring regarding pedophilia. There are a lot of people in the United States who think that pedophiles deserve this sort of treatment. And yes, I understand that Polanski has not precisely been labeled as such — but I would argue that the public perception is certainly that he’s a pedophile.
I don’t support the U.S. prison system. It is, however, a reality and I believe that if people caught with a small amount of crack-cocaine need to feel its weight coming down on their bodies, then people who commit violent acts of sexual assault surely need to feel it too.
Polanski apologists have been both maddening and sickening to me. I have routinely wondered why people don’t take sexual assault more seriously generally, so this is kind of shocking to me because Hollywood is supposed to be some sort of liberal mecca or whatever. I think that people who commit acts of sexual assault deserve to be punished — which Polanski has resisted. He didn’t even bother to pay out what his victim won in her civil suit, which is gross, gross, gross.
I agree with the general consensus that his previous hardships do not excuse his behavior at all. Attempting to excuse his behavior does nothing more than reinforce existing structures that privilege the white, the male, and the rich. He’s not “poor” Roman Polanski by any means. In fact, he obviously demands a good deal of cultural respect from people and institutions that are supposed to matter.
Sexual assault is VERY real. Not just when famous people commit it, but it is committed, PERIOD.
Furthermore, disparities in the criminal justice system are also very real. This is why I think Polanski should be forced to serve his time like anyone else would — his wealth, his cultural productivity, or his success at evading the law for more than three decades does little to impress me. Bail organizations are not kind to “normal” people who fail to appear. I don’t understand how Polanski can be an exception, except that a large number of people don’t take sexual assault very seriously.
I agree with you, Matt. I think the author should really think long and hard about what he wrote.
Ms. Roberts is a mother, like myself, and that’s the filter through which those comments were most likely made. I don’t advocate the harshness of her statement, but I understand it – especially in light of the rather weird response (even for Hollywood) to Polanski’s arrest. Yes, certain aspects of his life have been uniquely tragic, but people who live through tragic things do not get carte blanche to drug and rape a child. It beyond ludicrous that people are saying this man has suffered “enough.” He needs to take responsibility for what he did, and accept his punishment.
I have a 14-year-old daughter; don’t mess with a Mama Bear! I can’t believe that people are excusing what he did because he makes “brilliant” movies, or because he suffered horrible hardships throughout his life.
I want to get a list of all those who signed the petition and blacklist their work. I can’t believe that anybody who read the girl’s statement can think that Polanski is a victim. Even if it WERE consensual, as he claims, it’s still illegal.
Holy mother of pearl, TR! You almost took the exact words right out of mouth (so to say), even down the “carte blanche”. If we allow the logic that people with tragic lives are allowed to perpetuate such heinous crimes such as child rape (this wasn’t some Lolita seductress, and even IF she were, he was the STILL the adult, she the child), this world dissolve into anarchy and chaos in no time. NEWS FLASH, we all have had trying times in our life… No excuse to rape a child…
i think your comments were so right on. i think it’s very odd some of the people “hollywood celebs” defense that he has suffered enough. he drugged and raped a child. he fled the country instead of doing his time. he is a coward and a child molester. is there anything worse?
Her phrase was a figure of speech that I took to mean that she hopes the absolute worst punishment is applied to his case. I agree with her. The horrors he saw as a child should have made him MORE reluctant to anally rape a child.
This is how it starts – with one voice of blood thirst. Others will soon follow. Let’s light up the torches and storm Dr. Frankenstein’s castle.
No torches or “storming” required, just the requisite jail time for his crime.
Lemme see if I have this straight, JOSH: Cokie Roberts speaking her mind and saying what loads of us out here are probably thinking is “chilling” and “awkward,” but you make no judgment call either way on all the “Hollywood luminaries” who are actually coming to this man’s defense???? Unbelievable. I hope you don’t have kids, because your values are just as messed up as those of the people who would defend this man.
Exactly, Hannah. Me, I would think that defending this man’s crime would be chilling and awkward, but… what do I know? I guess I’m out of touch.
cokie roberts was just saying what all women who despise rapists are thinking. I don’t put Debra winger and Penelope Cruz in that category since they are HIS supporters. He is a rapists and wether he was in the holocaust or not he is a criminal who abused a child.
So because he has gone through some painful events in his life, he should be excuse for the crime he clearly commited? I don’t think I can trust this writer’s judge of character
I was thinking this as well. I’m willing to bet many a child molester can claim a past filled with tragedy but that certainly does NOT excuse their crime. This man raped and sodomized a 13-year old child, and the time has come for him to answer for the same. I’m also willing to defend Cokie and think she was probably relying upon a clumsy but common phrasing (re: take someone out back and shoot them) to express her desire that Polanski be punished.
Many — if not most — abusers and sex offenders have terrible, tragic pasts. But no past can excuse the act of raping a child. This man might be talented, and he might be wounded, but ultimately, he is still a child molester.
Agreed w/Matt.
I think the extremist nature of Cokie’s rant comes from the anger over all the celebrities and movie directors who are making Polanski out to be a victim. The man shouldn’t spend the rest of his life in jail but he needs to pay for his crime! What message does it send to let this man get away with it regardless of 32 years passing???
Actually, I believe Polanski is in his seventies and, if convicted, probably should spend the rest of his life in jail.
Then he should have ‘done the time’ decades ago and have been done with it; in either event he probably won’t get a whole heck of a lot of jailtime, according to most experts.
in reading comments i was thinking that people have sadly changed their morals and what they are willing to believe is “wrong” in the molesting of children. have we, as a society, changed our thinking so much that we now believe drugging and raping a child is “ok”? I’m sure all the members of NAMBLA are salivating with this story.
Maybe the people who voice their support for Polanski are so easy on him because THEY have some hidden guilt in the same areas? Scary huh? Maybe they are lenient because they want leniency.
I agree 100% with Cokie Roberts. Does Polanski earn a pass because he is a ? “creative film genius” ? Should we give a pass to all the Catholic clergy because they supposedly pledged their lives to God? Polanski took sexual advantage of a 13 year old child and was convicted in 1977 when he was 44 years old!!!!! He knew what he did was wrong. He deserves to be extradited U.S. and sentenced for his past crime(s).
Agreed. Michael Jackson didn’t earn a pass, even after he was acquitted of all charges. They still vilify that man, and he was by most accounts a “musical genius”. Why does Hollywood believe that Polanski’s hard past should allow him to escape justice?
That’s not a fair comparison. Michael Jackson was black, not white. accused of gay, not hetero sex and further more, was not part of the tribe. Totally different situation.
I agree 100% with her. Pedophiles should receive the death penalty.
Polanski now has a 13 year old daughter. What would he think if she were drugged and raped?
Good question; hopefull he’d be just as outraged as those with any sense are.
Sharon Tate’s killers were brought to justice; why shouldn’t he? Because they murdered people and he ‘just’ drugged and performed several very adult sexual acts on a 13 year old? I’ve got a 13 year old daughter; heaven help anyone that hurt her.
Polanski’s victim is looking for closure, which at this point in her own life is probably more important than justice to her; I understand she’s been put in the spotlight again now and she has children of her own. I feel for her, but this isn’t just for her; justice and following through is for all the other children that are assaulted. As hard as this is, I hope she understands that.
you sure she hasn’t been? i’m not. this habit of his is legendary in France, he has no moral limit in this regard it appears.
And if someone defends polanski’s actions by saying it was consensual, then those people should not be allow to be near children
Agreed. I teach 13-year-olds, and I cannot imagine any cirmcumstance in which one of them would consent to the things this girl was subjected to.
Who cares if the victim wants the whole thing dropped? She’s been paid off, so her opinion is irrelevant. Someone like Polanski, with the means and willingness to flee, should never have been let out of jail and given the opportunity to do so. He should have served the appropriate sentence, and Geimer’s mother should have been thrown in jail right alongside him for neglect and being an accessory. The ironic thing is, sentencing was quite a bit more lenient thirty years ago, and there was no such thing as have to register as a sex offender. He probably would have served a couple months at the most and been done with it, and then he could have exiled himself to Europe (where they “understand” his genius better anyway – eyeroll) and continued his career without this hanging over his head for 30 plus years.
there was registration for sex offenders back then, but it was more lenient than now. they allowed a psychiatric exam to decide if he qualified, he passed the test somehow and wasnt going to have to register.
Sentencing was much more lenient indeed, but after he was given 90 days to finish a movie before sentencing, he was was photographed with his arms around the underage Natasha Kinski, the judge got angry. it looked like his deal for time served was going to turn into a year behind bars, so Roman Polanski just skipped town.