Dench was the subject of a recent wide-ranging profile in the Radio Times published over the weekend. Writer Ginny Dougary engaged with the actor on a subject of the Quaker religion and forgiveness, which led into a discussion of Spacey and Weinstein. “Kevin has been exonerated and I hear from Kevin, we text. 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 says in a way the Radio Times describes as “with empathy for his victims.” The rest of the discussion is just sort of sentence fragments from Dench: “I imagine he’s done his time…” and “I don’t know, to me it’s personal – forgiveness. I just think…”
Dougary writes that the reason she brought up the topic on Spacey and Weinstein is because Dench previously spoke about their treatment to the same outlet in 2019, suggesting we should separate their work from their personal life. “Are we going to negate 10 years at the Old Vic and everything that [Spacey] did [as artistic director] – how wonderful he’s been in all those films? Are we just not going to see all those films that Harvey produced?” Dench wondered (via The Guardian). “You cannot deny somebody a talent. You might as well never look at a Caravaggio painting [he was a murderer]. You might as well never have gone to see Noël Coward [accused of predatory behaviour].”
As of this writing, Weinstein is incarcerated on Rikers Island in New York. Spacey does have his freedom, but is facing another lawsuit centered on sexual assault in 2026. Lately, he’s been tap dancing in Cyprus and Israel and claims that powerful people in Hollywood are anxious for him to get back to work on the big screen.
