Yahoo Finance Jeremy Irons walks back anti-abortion, gay marriage comments at Berlin Film Festival
Jeremy Irons is clarifying his stance on issues ranging from abortion to gay marriage.
The 71-year-old actor is serving as competition jury president at the Berlin International Film Festival, which kicked off Thursday. "The Artist" star Bérénice Bejo and "Manchester by the Sea" director/writer Kenneth Lonergan are among jury members.
According to Variety and Deadline, at a press conference kicking off Berlinale, the "Watchman" star began by confronting comments from his past, many of which resurfaced in the lead up to the festival.
“Let me make my views this morning entirely clear on these particular subjects once and for all,” Irons told journalists. “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."
In a 2011 interview with Radio Times, Irons (who signed a petition in support of Roman Polanski two years prior) drew criticism after he was quoted saying political correctness had "gone too far."
“If a man puts his hand on a woman’s bottom, any woman worth her salt can deal with it. It’s communication," he said. "Can’t we be friendly?”
In 2013, the actor told the Huffington Post he worried that same-sex marriage could “debase what marriage is,” asking, when pondering inheritance tax evasion, "Could a father not marry his son?" Weeks later he reversed course, telling the BBC “gay marriage is wonderful.”
And in 2016 the actor equivocated on abortion, telling the Guardian that while women should be allowed to get the procedure, "the church is right to say it’s a sin."
On Thursday Irons explicitly said that same-sex marriage, abortion and women's rights are "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."
He added: "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.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jeremy Irons clarifies past anti-abortion, gay marriage comments
