Whoopi Goldberg has been branded a “rape apologist” for suggesting Roman Polanski’s sex with a 13 year old girl three decades ago was not “rape-rape”.

The director was arrested in Switzerland on Saturday and is currently fighting extradition to the US over his 1977 conviction for unlawful sex with a minor. Polanski admitted having sex with former model Samantha Gremier, the 13, at the Hollywood mansion of Jack Nicholson. The critically-acclaimed director fled the US before he was sentenced, claiming the judge in the case reneged on a plea bargain deal. He later settled in France.

Speaking of his arrest on The View Monday, the Oscar-winning actress insisted she believes the incident wasn’t rape in the strict meaning of the term.

“It was something, but I don’t believe it was rape-rape,” she said. “He went to jail and when they let him out he was like, ‘This guy’s gonna give me 100 years. I’m not staying.’ We’re a different kind of society, we see things differently. Would I want my 14 year old having sex? Not necessarily, no.”