Twitter Indignant Over Polanski Billing Sexual Abuse Debate as 'Mass Hysteria'

© AP Photo / Michael ProbstPolish born film director Roman Polanski (File)
Polish born film director Roman Polanski (File) - Sputnik International
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In a new interview with Newsweek Polska, Roman Polanski essentially likened #MeToo, which has prompted huge numbers of women all over the world to be explicit about sexual harassment, to Middle Age massacres of protestants in France, which most certainly fueled a stormy reaction on Twitter.

"I think this is the kind of mass hysteria that occurs in society from time to time," the 84-year-old director told the publication.

He went on to say that the "hysteria" occasionally peaks in dramatic examples like the French Revolution or the St Bartholomew's Day massacre, which left 70,000 French Calvinist Protestants dead, or in a milder form, like the Polish 1968 political crisis.

He concluded by saying that people speaking out in the framework of the #MeToo movement showcase the utmost hypocrisy as they are doing it "out of fear," which immediately sent the Twitterverse into a tailspin. Many rushed to say he virtually belongs in jail:

Some expressed their anger as irony:

Polanski has been on the run from US law enforcement since 1978, when he pleaded guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl named Samantha Geimer. He is a dual Polish and French citizen and now lives in France. Separately, the fugitive movie director was pulled out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last week, alongside convicted rapist Bill Cosby.

READ MORE: Feminist Alternative to 'Patriarchal' Nobel Prize Gets Scoffed on Twitter

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