I asked her why she had signed the petition, and she explained about how well she knows Polanski, how terrible his life has been, and how forgiving the survivor of the rape all those years ago now is. She said she thought the intentions of the judge were unclear, as were the intentions of those who arrested him recently. She told me that a lot of her friends had rung her up asking her to sign the petition, so there had been a certain amount of pressure. She said that she had already been thinking a lot about the petition, as others had expressed their dismay at her signing it.
I handed her our petition and the comments. She read them both through thoroughly, and came back to me. She said, while she supported Polanski as a friend, a crime is a crime. I don’t know whether she had realised the extent of Polanski’s crime, but she is now fully aware. She will remove her name from the petition – in fact, she said she would call today and sort it out. Even though, she stressed, Polanski has had some truly terrible experiences in his lifetime, experiences that we couldn’t even imagine and which should not be taken out of the equation, she agreed that she could not put her name to a petition asking for his release.
Assuming that she will be true to her word, her name will be removed in the very near future. Hopefully the press will pick up on it.
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She has a daughter. It finally sunk in.
Wethal on November 6, 2009 at 10:08 AM
Blech
nyx on November 6, 2009 at 10:09 AM
Blech
nyx on November 6, 2009 at 10:09 AM
I thought she was talking about Hasan for a second. Do you know firsthand the pain of being made fun of for loving suicide bombers?
LibTired on November 6, 2009 at 10:13 AM
So Nanny McPhee finally figured out she’s supposed to care about the kids?
Daggett on November 6, 2009 at 10:13 AM
I’ve got a Porsche.
mankai on November 6, 2009 at 10:17 AM
Too late, own it.
Theworldisnotenough on November 6, 2009 at 10:18 AM
This just in: Local grocery-bagging teenager at the Super Valu has also had a change of heart in regards to his initial support of Polanski.
More updates as they become available.
Bishop on November 6, 2009 at 10:19 AM
Who is Emma Thompson? I looked her up on IMDb but still couldn’t place her. Stupid movie stars and their self righteous behavior.
taney71 on November 6, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Sure, I can imagine. I know a number of Jews who survived death camps. Frankly, their experiences were much worse than Polanski’s, who managed to escape the ghetto, survive, and was reunite with his father at the end of the war. My friends last saw their wife, child, parents, or siblings as they boarded a train to Chelmo or Treblinka or were sent to the left at Birkenau. But, they never use it as an excuse to commit crimes.
Blake on November 6, 2009 at 10:27 AM
I’ll stick with her intial reaction to sign the petition; otherwise, we may as well forgive Van Jones while were at it.
PS – She’d play a good Hillary Clinton; if she could gain 80 lbs of backside.
OSUBuciz1 on November 6, 2009 at 10:32 AM
Rape is inexcusable. I’d probably commit suicide if my beautiful 8 1/2 month pregnant wife was murdered by Charles Manson though. I can’t imagine the emotional pain.
He needs to be punished for raping the girl.
ThackerAgency on November 6, 2009 at 10:33 AM
a 911 with a quadrophonic Blaupunkt
Caper29 on November 6, 2009 at 10:41 AM
Screw that, I hope Breitbart or someone keeps this petition in tact with these cretins’ names etched in stone.
Daemonocracy on November 6, 2009 at 10:43 AM
How brave of her.
SouthernGent on November 6, 2009 at 10:45 AM
She can’t make a mistake and admit she’d done so? I don’t understand. We rip on people for doing something wrong and then continue to do so when they admit their error?
Personally, I think it’s incredible that she’s doing this and understand why she felt pressure to sign the petition in the first place. She knows the man and probably knew very little about the rape. You always want to give your friends the benefit of doubt, even when they don’t deserve it.
Esthier on November 6, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Never heard of her. But at least she’s acknowledging her mistake.
Christian Conservative on November 6, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Emma Thompson is an intelligent woman and a first-class actress. If she is willing to change her mind on this then that is a good thing.
BigD on November 6, 2009 at 10:53 AM
Emma Thompson was great in Sense and Sensibility.
If there is one main difference between actors and actresses of 50-80 years ago vs actors and actresses now it is their level of education.
In the past only a minority of actors and actresses and writers went to college and instead learned their craft through vaudeville and the school of hard knocks. Sure some of these folk were politically active but they generally believed they were not so superior to the folks who bought the movie tickets that they would only produce movies that they wanted to make, rather than what the public wanted to go and see. The movie scripts were tailored to the American way of life. Sure they examined the dark side which art should do but as a balance there were plenty of movies in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s which emphasized heroic behavior, patriotism, freedom, independent behavior and the pioneer spirit of never giving up.
As to the actors and actresses and writers of today they are all college educated and extremely liberal and have no compunction to taking that liberalism and sprinkling that into movie scripts and movie roles in a presumptuous attempt to convert the yahoos of America to becoming more European-like and to them more enlightened by showing American to be a cultural and political wasteland and to portray America in the most negative terms possible. The anti-hero of the late 60’s and the 70’s has now become a political cause in the 21st c.
technopeasant on November 6, 2009 at 10:53 AM
She’s an idiot. No wonder Kenneth Branagh gave her the boot.
Percy_Peabody on November 6, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Emma Thompson is an actress I’ve actually heard of and she is a wonderful one. I’m glad she changed her mind about the petition. Hopefully she follows through….
mjk on November 6, 2009 at 10:57 AM
I have always liked Emma Thompson and was disappointed she had signed the petition in the first place, but I am glad that she has reconsidered. She jumped the gun and followed the crowd, but I think she genuinely regrets having done so and hope that she does indeed get her name removed. If so, then good for her. Maybe more Hollywoodites need to re-evaluate their knee-jerk reaction. At least one has come to her senses.
XWing5 on November 6, 2009 at 11:00 AM
I am shocked to know that the stupidest spewings from the Left Coast can be logically explained. I feel sorry for logic, however because now it needs a shower.
And what is up with AP monitoring such a doofus website? Is this where Meghan hangs out?
platypus on November 6, 2009 at 11:01 AM
I agree.
beachgirlusa on November 6, 2009 at 11:10 AM
She gets sucked into a lot of dumb causes. Last I heard she’d been palling around with the pro-Arafat set. And apparently she can’t say no to anybody with a tearjerky story.
Jane Austen would have had a field day with poor Emma.
Seth Halpern on November 6, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Plus there’s that whole eternal teenager thing. Leftist film makers seem obsessed with utopian and dystopian themes. Both are equally adolescent.
TheUnrepentantGeek on November 6, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Agree with this too.
beachgirlusa on November 6, 2009 at 11:12 AM
Still wondering how AP got on this website.
platypus on November 6, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Sorry, but it doesn’t look like you’ll get an answer.
Esthier on November 6, 2009 at 11:21 AM
Where’s my elation? Has anyone seen my elation?!?
cjtony97 on November 6, 2009 at 11:22 AM
LOL You do know you’re the reason I frequent HA, to learn at the feet of the master and catch the pearls he tosses out….:)
beachgirlusa on November 6, 2009 at 11:23 AM
Great, I like Emma. Top notch artist.
Spirit of 1776 on November 6, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Good for Emma for admitting her mistake.
NebCon on November 6, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Allahpundit is a feminist.
Blake on November 6, 2009 at 11:42 AM
Suicide? I’d go Dexter on the bastard and his cult.
Darth Executor on November 6, 2009 at 11:43 AM
It’s one of the major femmy lefty sites. And they are the ones approaching Thompson and requesting she withdraw her name from the petition, so they are making news. Last I check, people on this site were interested in the Polanski case and Hollywood’s support of him.
Blake on November 6, 2009 at 11:44 AM
She gave him the boot. He was shagging one of her friends. Apparently, Branaugh could never keep it in his pants.
Blake on November 6, 2009 at 11:46 AM
Spare me! Polanski was trying to pick up chicks at his wife and child’s funeral.
Blake on November 6, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Which has what to do with the comment regarding what I’d do? I’m not Polanski. I think the ****er should rot in prison which I’ve made fairly clear in the past.
Darth Executor on November 6, 2009 at 11:49 AM
There were a lot of other Jews with similar experiences, who yet went on found the nation of Israel and make the desert bloom.
Wethal on November 6, 2009 at 11:50 AM
It’s not always about just you.
Blake on November 6, 2009 at 11:54 AM
You cannot come close to imagining the gratitude I am now gushing over your wonderful comment. If you have any more, please send them priority mail.
Esthier just responds with that Nurse Ratched eye-burn stare, as if that’s supposed to make me malleable and willing. I was desperate for affection so I carried a torch for her but those days are now a fading memory.
platypus on November 6, 2009 at 12:03 PM
But beachgirlusa says it’s about nothing but me.
platypus on November 6, 2009 at 12:06 PM
I like Emma, and the fact that she is willing to rethink and retract makes me like her a bit more.
She can be just as idiotic as other actors, but in this, I respect her change of mind.
How many others have rethought, eh? Give her some credit.
tickleddragon on November 6, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Obviously you don’t know squat about what you’re talking about. Out of the two of them, Branagh’s the a$$hole.
tickleddragon on November 6, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Sorry, Emma, there’s things you do in this life that once done, cannot be undone.
One of those things is standing up for a child raping monster and then making apologies for him.
SuperCool on November 6, 2009 at 1:13 PM
SuperCool, I understand your point, but I don’t agree with it:
If she signed the petition under pressure and before being in full possession of the facts, that was dumb, but that’s all it was. I say, good for her for acknowledging the mistake she made and retracting her support publicly. If only all the other petition signers might have a similar epiphany and say, “We supported evil, but no more!”
Mary in LA on November 6, 2009 at 1:22 PM