Jeremy Irons is reflecting on the words he’s used in the past.
The 71-year-old actor spoke out as jury president at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival on Thursday (February 20) in Berlin, Germany.
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“I wish I didn’t have to take up time with this, but I don’t want it to continue as a distraction to the Berlinale,” he began to explain regarding old resurfaced comments from past interviews – including the time he said “if a man puts his hand on a woman’s bottom, any woman worth her salt can deal with it. It’s communication. Can’t we be friendly?” and also once said legalizing gay marriage could result in fathers marrying their sons in order to avoid inheritance taxes.
“Let me make my views this morning entirely clear on these particular subjects once and for all. Firstly, I support wholeheartedly the global movement to address the inequality of women’s rights, and to protect them from abusive, damaging, and disrespectful harassment, both at home and in the workplace. Secondly, I applaud the legislation of same-sex marriage, wherever it has been attained, and I hope that such enlightened legislation will continue to spread into more and more societies. And thirdly, I support wholeheartedly the right of women to have an abortion, should they so decide,” he said, via Variety.
“These three human rights are, I believe, essential steps toward a civilized and humane society, for which we should all continue to strive. There are many parts of the world where these rights do not yet exist, where such ways of living lead to imprisonment, and even to death. I hope that some of the films we will be watching will address these problems, among many others we face in our world, and I look forward to watching films in this year’s Berlinale which will provoke us to question attitudes, prejudices, and worldwide perceptions of life as we know it. I hope that’s put my past comments to bed.”
Someone else recently apologized for their own commentary on the LGBT community. Find out who…