Sometimes I need a strong stomach to get through the news. Learning about film director Roman Polanski, who fled the United States just before he was to be sentenced for raping a 13-year-old girl, has been eye-opening. It's been over 20 years since he was convicted of the crime, but what has been said about Polanski, directly and indirectly, over the past 12 years, has been extremely upsetting.

Indirect commentary on whether the crime and subsequent skipping out were acceptable came when Polanski won the Oscar for Best Director for The Pianist in 2003. I'm somewhat confused about the message from Hollywood. The Oscars organization, as well as "the Academy," should have ignored Polanski. Actually, they should have told him to return to the United States to face justice.

Whoopi Goldberg, amazing social commentator that she is, came to Polanski's defense recently, saying that his act was not a serious kind of rape (her words were that it was not 'rape rape'). Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen have come to his defense. Why? Why not tell him that he needs to pay the price for what he did to a 13-year-old girl?

Not all of Hollywood backs Polanski. On Jay Leno's show, Leno blasted him during his monologue. Chris Rock took him to task during his appearance on the same episode of Leno's show. Clearly there are plenty of people in Hollywood who know right from wrong. I'm just amazed that there are people and organizations who have come to his defense. Even those closest to him ought to defend the true victim in this story. As the Proverb says, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."