Convicted child rapist Roman Polanski: #MeToo is "collective hysteria" and "you can't stop laughing" at it

Roman Polanski, the filmmaker who drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl, plead guilty to statutory rape, then fled hours before his sentencing to live the high life abroad for decades, objects to the #MeToo movement. The AP:

Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski says the #MeToo movement that sheds light on sexual misconduct of powerful men in Hollywood is "collective hysteria" and "total hypocrisy."

Polanski made the comment to Newsweek Polska in an interview given just days before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stripped him of his nearly 50-year membership, citing a case in 1977 in which he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor. The interview was published this week.

He said everyone is trying to sign up to #MeToo "chiefly out of fear" and compared it to North Korea's public mourning for its leaders that is so intensive that "you can't stop laughing." He did not explain further.

The system did everything it could to get Polanski off the hook, but the system is now on it.