Headline in today’s New York Times:
Of course, we’ve been here before—with Roman Polanski, for instance (I wrote about his case here: https://drnormalvision.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-little-mistake-brief-look-at-satire.html).
A good number of show biz names leaped to the defense of the man who “gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne, then raped her . . .”(1), among the most egregious of them (considering the context) were Harvey Weinstein and Woody Allen. One Swiss filmmaker extolled Polanski as a “brilliant fantastic genius, [and] millions and millions of people love his work.”(2)
In Gérard Depardieu’s case, the letter defending him asserts that he is “probably the greatest of actors” and as a “genius” who has made France shine worldwide. The celebs for the defense actually make no case for the defense, preferring to claim that a “lynching” is going on. Such language actually undermines their defense by associating the accusations of Depardieu’s sexual offenses with the horror of the murders of innocent black men. No one has a tree picked out for the Frenchman, nor do they have a length of rope at the ready.
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I dealt with the issue of bad people doing good things in another post (https://drnormalvision.blogspot.com/2014/11/que-bella-voce.html), in which I referred to the case of Baruch Lebovits, a cantor who was found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor. Rising to the defense of this predator, “nearly eighty people sent letters to the judge, requesting mercy for Lebovits. They described him as charitable, kind, blessed with a beautiful singing voice . . .”(3)
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What lesson do we take away from this? I suppose one might be: Establish yourself as a person of talent (a singer, actor, writer, painter), get yourself a claque of admirers, encourage them to seek out the extremities of hyperbole, and in no case have them address the evidence pointing to your guilt.
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(1) Kate Harding, https://www.salon.com/2009/09/28/polanski_arrest/
(2) http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/09/29/hollywood.embraces.polanski/
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