Nolte: Judi Dench Remains Friends with Kevin Spacey, Forgives Harvey Weinstein

Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench turns 91 on Tuesday, was forced to retire due to blindness, and remains a practicing Quaker—a Christian movement that preaches forgiveness. Although I’m guessing she wishes it were not the case, this pits her against the unforgiving #MeToo movement.

Kevin Spacey has been exonerated more than once in a court of law. Still, the fascists in left-wing Hollywood refuse to forgive the two-time Oscar winner and end their blacklist against him. Dench, however, remains friends with her former co-star.

“Kevin has been exonerated, and I hear from Kevin, we text,” she said. She also hasn’t forgotten Spacey’s kindness when her husband of 30 years died in 2001.

She was also close to disgraced producer and convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein. He helped launch her late-in-life movie career. Dench has condemned his behavior but now says it’s time to forgive.

“I saw a bit of film of Harvey walking with two sticks, and you think, ‘Well…’ ‘I knew Harvey, and I knew him well and worked with him, and I had none of that experience – very fortunately for me,’” she told Radio Times while expressing “empathy for his victims.”

“I imagine he’s done his time,” she adds. “I don’t know, to me it’s personal – forgiveness.”

Forgiveness is a gift we give to ourselves. It’s the road to peace. That doesn’t mean you forget or that you allow bad people back into your life to complicate it. But you’ve gotta move on, you’ve gotta let go, and these unforgiving, endlessly bitter #MeToo activists might feel warm and virtuous refusing to forgive, but they are also hurting themselves along with our culture.

Please understand that I’m not talking about the actual victims of sexual abuse. No one can grasp what they have gone through, and no one can tell them how to feel. They only have my sympathy and best wishes.

Above, I specifically used the word “activist.” How many court cases does Kevin Spacey have to win before he’s allowed back in? How long does Harvey Weinstein have to serve in prison before he’s allowed a second chance? People who have been exonerated deserve an apology and a return to their former lives. People who have paid their debt deserve a second chance. That’s how all of this is supposed to work.

Harvey Weinstein represents everything awful in the world, at least he does to me—his politics, his sexual assaults, his effect on the culture, his persona… But if the man survives his prison sentence, the slate should be erased—not for the people he’s hurt, abused, betrayed, or bullied. That’s different. But as far as society’s concerned, the debt’s paid and the slate is clean.

John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.