Polanski was not guilty of 'rape-rape', says Whoopi Goldberg
'We're a different kind of society, we see things differently,' actor says in defence of Roman Polanski
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Hollywood has rallied behind Roman Polanski after his arrest in Switzerland over the weekend, with the actor Whoopi Goldberg suggesting that whatever he was guilty of it wasn't "rape-rape".
As a guest on The View chatshow on US television, she said: "I know it wasn't rape-rape. It was something else but I don't believe it was rape-rape. He went to jail and and when they let him out he was like, 'You know what, this guy's going to give me a hundred years in jail. I'm not staying.' So that's why he left."
Later in the programme she added: "We're a different kind of society, we see things differently ... would I want my 14-year-old having sex with somebody? Not necessarily, no."
Response from many women and some men bloggers was swift and furious.
On the Jezebel celebrity website , Lindsay wrote: "We learned about Whoopi's strange and fascinating moral universe, which includes the concept of "rape-rape."
On The Frisky Amelia McDonnell-Parry wrote: "Whoopi Goldberg, who I never expected to be a rape apologist, coins a term I've never heard before – "rape-rape." Apparently "rape-rape" is NOT when you drug a 13-year-old girl with alcohol and a Quaalude and then have anal sex with her. That's something else – that's, apparently, not as bad. wtf?"