Debra Tate Says Roman Polanski’s Rape of a Drugged, 13-Year-Old Girl Was Consensual

Debra Tate, sister to Roman Polanski‘s late wife Sharon Tate, went on television this morning to let everyone know that Polanski didn’t really rape Samantha Geimer in 1977, telling Matt Lauer on the Today show this morning that “it was rape, but it wasn’t rape.”

Phew! Well, that just clears everything up, doesn’t it?

I have this weird idea that a 13-year-old girl is still a minor and that she is not of an age to give consent to vaginal and anal intercourse while under the influence of drugs and alcohol during what is supposed to be a professional photo shoot. Debra Tate, on the other hand, pulls her card as a victims advocate and says that, in Samantha Geimer’s case, she could. Seriously. If you don’t believe me, here is Debra Tate’s interview with Matt Lauer:

What Debra Tate is not clear about in this interview is that her victim advocacy is primarily for families who have lost members to murder, not specifically sexual abuse victims, so when she claims, and I quote, “It was a consensual matter. I am a victim’s advocate, and I know the difference”, she loses all credibility. A victim’s advocate generally does not ignore the victim’s side of the story, and Samantha Geimer has been very clear that what Roman Polanski did to her was not consensual, going so far as to write an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times about the matter:

It was not consensual sex by any means. I said no, repeatedly, but he
wouldn’t take no for an answer. I was alone and I didn’t know what to
do. It was scary and, looking back, very creepy.

Children of 13 are just that, children, and grown up men are adults
that should know better than to abuse a professional situation with a
child by plying them with Quaaludes and champagne and then sexually
violating them.

Samantha Geimer in 1978 and 2008

My favourite part of Debra Tate’s interview, though, is where her rape apologetics also encompass pedophilia. “[Polanski] was evaluated not to be a pedophile, and, as I said, there’s rape, and then there’s rape“, she says, insinuating not so subtly that if some psychiatric authority deems Polanski’s drugging and sexual molestation of a minor to be non-pedophilic in nature, then it renders Samantha Geimer’s involvement as consensual against all evidence and testimony to the contrary. Debra also thinks that the American legal system’s pursuit of Polanski for raping a child is a sign that the “system is extremely broken”.

Isn’t Debra Tate just the peachiest most barfy, disgusting, hateful, blind, and unbelievable rape/pedophilia apologist you’ve seen this week?