Film director and child rapist Roman Polanski has dismissed the #MeToo movement as 'mass hysteria' and 'hypocrisy', just days before he was expelled from the Oscars academy.

The 84-year-old director was thrown out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last week, along with convicted sex attacker Bill Cosby.

Polanski has been on the run from U.S. justice since 1978, when he pleaded guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl after drugging her.

Child rapist: Polanski compared #MeToo to 16th century massacres of protestant Christians in France, and branded the movement a 'mass hysteria'

In the new interview, Polanski compared #MeToo, which has seen women all over the world speak out about sexual harassment and assault, to 16th century massacres of protestant Christians in France.

Polanski told this week's edition of Newsweek Polska: 'I think this is the kind of mass hysteria that occurs in society from time to time.'

'Sometimes it's very dramatic, like the French Revolution or the St Bartholomew's Day massacre in France, or sometimes it's less bloody, like 1968 in Poland or McCarthyism in the US,' he added.

'Everyone is trying to back this movement, mainly out of fear... I think it's total hypocrisy.'

The St Bartholomew's Day massacre saw as many as 70,000 Huguenots - French Calvinist Protestants - murdered by Catholic mobs across France in August 1572.

Victim: Polanski pleaded gilty to unlawful sex with a minor, after raping the then 13-year-old Samantha Geimer, pictured right as a child, after drugging her

Polanski's comment prompted outrage on social media, in particular on micro-blogging site Twitter,.

User ShomahKhoobi wrote: Filmmaker Roman Polanski calls the #MeToo movement 'mass hysteria'. Because men who rape children, then flee the country should always be looked to for great wisdom and reason.

User daisy_razor quipped that; 'Asking Roman Polanski about #metoo is like asking an arsonist what he thinks of the fire department.'

American comedian Sean Kent posted: 'Roman Polanski drugged and anally raped a 13 year old girl. So whatever he says about #MeToo literally doesn't matter.'

Singer-songwriter and activist Holly Figueroa O'Reilly wrote: 'Child rapist Roman Polanski calls the #MeToo movement 'collective hysteria' and 'total hypocrisy.'

'If standing up against everything from sexual misconduct to rape is 'hysteria and hypocrisy', I'm proud to be a hysterical hypocrite.'

Reaction: A number of people vented their fury on Twitter in the wake of Polanski's comments

Polanski, who is a dual Polish and French citizen and currently lives in France, remains wanted in the US for the 1977 rape of 13-year-old Samantha Geimer.

Geimer testified that Polanski performed various sexual acts, including vaginal and anal penetration, after giving her a combination of champagne and quaaludes.

Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, but later fled the U.S. and has for years sought to negotiate a deal in the case with authorities.

Geimer, who has said in the past that she has forgiven Polanski, dismissed the Academy's move to expel him as 'an ugly and cruel action which serves only appearance.'

Before #MeToo: Roman Polanski holds the Best Director award for 'Venus in Fur' while actress Scarlett Johansson holds the Honorary Cesar award on stage during the 39th Cesar Film Awards in Paris in 2014

Polanski, who called the decision last week 'the height of hypocrisy', is set to appeal, his lawyer said.

'We want due process,' Polanski's attorney Harland Braun told Vanity Fair as he announced his client's decision to appeal.

'That's not asking too much of the Academy, is it?'

'Mr. Polanski was supposed to be given notice, and have 10 days to present his side. It was a complete debacle in the sense that they didn't follow their own rules.'

The expulsions came as Hollywood reels from the assault allegations against disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein, which prompted an international uproar and encouraged legions of women to share their own experience of sexual harassment or rape under the hashtag #MeToo.