Roman Polanski will no longer preside over French César Awards after backlash

Roman Polanski will no longer preside over the César Awards after protests from women’s groups.

The French director was scheduled to preside over the French version of the Oscars before stepping down from the role.

“In order not to disturb the César ceremony, which should be centered on cinema and not on whom it chose to preside over the ceremony, Roman Polanski has decided not to accept the invitation,” Hervé Temime, Polanski’s lawyer, said in a statement to The New York Times.

Polanski, 83, was arrested in 1977 for sexually assaulting 13-year-old Samantha Gailey during a Vogue photo shoot and pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. He fled the country in February 1978, hours before he was rumored to be sentenced to 50 years in prison.

He was arrested again…