Polanski's Gig Hosting France's Oscars Met With Outrage

The pick of Roman Polanski to lead the jury for the annual Cesars—France's version of the Oscars—was met with outrage this week, AFP reports. France's minister for women's rights calls it "surprising and shocking" and the "banalization of rape." Polanksi pleaded guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl in the US decades ago before fleeing to Europe. Women's groups are calling for a boycott of the Feb. 24 awards, while a petition to remove Polanski from the ceremony has tens of thousands of signatures. However, the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques issued a statement stating it has "admiration and enchantment" for Polanski, calling the director of Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby an "insatiable aesthete," according to the BBC. (More Roman Polanski stories.)