Helena Bonham Carter railed against “cancel culture” in a recent interview with The Times UK, saying, “Do you ban a genius for their sexual practices? There would be millions of people who, if you looked closely enough at their personal life, you would disqualify them. You can’t ban people. I hate cancel culture. It has become quite hysterical and there’s a kind of witch hunt and a lack of understanding.”
When it comes to “cancel culture” and Hollywood, Bonham Carter said there’s no road to redemption for someone like Kevin Spacey but there is for Johnny Depp, who notably won a U.S. libel trail over Amber Heard earlier this year. Depp and Bonham Carter are longtime collaborators, having starred together in Tim Burton films such as “Corpse Bride,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Dark Shadows” and “Alice in Wonderland.” Depp is even the godfather of Bonham Carter and Burton’s two children.
“Johnny certainly went through it,” Bonham Carter said, adding that he’s “completely vindicated” now after the trial. “I think he’s fine now. Totally fine.”
“My view is that [Amber Heard] got on that pendulum,” she replied when asked if Heard losing the trial was a sign that the #MeToo pendulum was swinging back. “That’s the problem with these things — that people will jump on the bandwagon because it’s the trend and to be the poster girl for it.”
Bonham Carter also defended J.K. Rowling, who has come under fire over the last few years for sharing beliefs that many perceive are anti-trans. The actor starred as the villainous Bellatrix Lestrange in four “Harry Potter” films.
“It’s horrendous, a load of bollocks. I think she has been hounded,” Bonham Carter said about Rowling. “It’s been taken to the extreme, the judgmental-ism of people. She’s allowed her opinion, particularly if she’s suffered abuse. Everybody carries their own history of trauma and forms their opinions from that trauma and you have to respect where people come from and their pain. You don’t all have to agree on everything — that would be insane and boring. She’s not meaning it aggressively, she’s just saying something out of her own experience.”
Bonham Carter added that “Harry Potter” stars like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, both of whom spoke out against Rowling’s beliefs, should “let her have her opinions, but I think they’re very aware of protecting their own fan base and their generation. It’s hard. One thing with the fame game is that there’s an etiquette that comes with it; I don’t agree with talking about other famous people.”
“If she hadn’t been the most phenomenal success, the reaction wouldn’t be so great,” Bonham Carter added of Rowling. “So I think there’s a lot of envy unfortunately and the need to tear people down that motors a lot of this cancelling. And schadenfreude.”
Helena Bonham Carter Says Johnny Depp Is ‘Completely Vindicated,’ Slams J.K. Rowling Backlash as ‘A Load of Bollocks’
