Nolte: #MeToo Fail — Venice Festival Welcomes Woody Allen, Polanski, Luc Besson

woodyallenPolanskiLucBesson
James Devaney/GC Images; Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty; Dominique Charriau/WireImage
John Nolte

The prestigious Venice Film Festival will welcome new features from Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, and Luc Besson—and the #MeToo Nazis are not happy.

All three directors are targets of the blacklisters in the fascist #MeToo movement. This is especially outrageous when it comes to Woody Allen and Luc Besson. Two separate states spent months investigating the (false) allegation Allen molested his daughter Dylan in 1993. Not only was Allen never charged with the crime, both states found him innocent.

This happened 30 years ago when America was still sane, and for the next 25 years, after being found innocent, Allen was allowed to go on about his life and art. Then, about five years ago, the McCarthyites in the #MeToo movement (with the help of Mia Farrow and her clan) used the #MeToo movement to destroy Allen. What happened and is still happening to the 87-year-old Oscar winner remains one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen in my life.

French director Luc Besson has been repeatedly accused of criminal sexual misconduct, and so far each and every case has been tossed out in the courts. After a four-year investigation, Besson is considered clear of all allegations.

Polanski, of course, is an entirely different situation. Polanski is a child rapist, a monster who drugged, raped, and sodomized a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Because he fled the U.S., he has never paid for this crime. He is a fugitive child rapist. Period. Does this mean his art should be blacklisted? No. Does this mean he should turn himself in to the authorities and pay for his crime? Yes.

Even if the breaking of the #MeToo blacklist has to include a child rapist like Polanski, it’s worth it to see this fascist movement take a hit:

Roman Polanski [sic] new feature, The Palace, scored an out-of-competition slot, as did Coup de Chance, the latest feature from Woody Allen. And Luc Besson will premiere his new feature, DogMan, in competition in Venice. All three filmmakers have been the focus of abuse allegations and, in the wake of #MeToo, the targets of online attacks and cancellation campaigns. Though Polanski, who fled the U.S. in 1978 after being convicted of sexually assaulting a teen girl, is the only one who has ever been charged with a criminal offense. The French courts have repeatedly dismissed abuse allegations leveled at Besson, just last month throwing out a case involving an alleged assault of a Belgium [sic] actress.

Here’s my favorite part:

But for many, all three directors are the cinematic equivalent of a trigger warning and their presence in Venice is certain to spark a furious response, particularly online and on social media.

And here’s the butthurt I live for:

Yep, I’m old enough to remember when Hollywood considered McCarthyism a bad thing.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.

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