Whoopi Goldberg has come under fire for suggesting Roman Polanski's sex with a 13 year old girl was not "rape-rape".

The director was arrested in Switzerland on Saturday and is currently fighting extradition to the U.S. over his 1977 conviction for unlawful sex with a minor. The acclaimed director fled the U.S. before he was sentenced; claiming the judge in the case reneged on a plea bargain deal. He later settled in France.

Talking of his arrest on The View, the Ghost actress insisted she believes the incident wasn't rape in the strict meaning of the term.

She said, "It was something, but I don't believe it was rape-rape. 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."

However, the comments have caused outrage with The Frisky women's website founder Amelia McDonnell, who brands Goldberg "an apologist for rape".

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(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)