CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

From the Hollywood Reporter:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has expelled Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski from its membership, the organization said Thursday. The Academy’s board of governors, following its new procedure for enforcing a Standards of Conduct that it adopted in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, voted to expel the comedian and the director at its most recent meeting on May 1.

“The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity,” the Academy said in a statement announcing their expulsion. A five-time Oscar nominee, Polanski will keep the Oscar he was awarded in 2003 for directing The Pianist, an award he couldn’t accept in person because he fled the United States in 1978, after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.