Feel Good Fridays: my role model remains a role model

So, I have a couple confessions.

First of all, I love Emma Thompson. She is a brilliant screenwriter, a phenomenal actress, an activist who works to end human trafficking, has starred in numerous Jane Austen adapations (and do I ever love my Jane Austen), and her husband is super hot. So, (confession number two) it pretty much broke my heart when she signed the petition to free Roman Polanski.

Because I am somewhat selfish, I thought: "how could Emma Thompson do this to me?" All the values that I hold dear--such as prosecuting rapists for their crimes--were just rejected by one of my idols.

BUT Emma Thompson has seen the light (I knew it...) and has removed her signature from the petition. And how did this come about, you may ask? Because of the dedicated work of a Shakesville reader named Caitlin. Caitlin met with Emma when she came to speak at Exter University, and presented her with a petition about why she should revoke her signature.

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.

And she thought about it, listened to the voices of her fans and other activists, and has reconsidered her support of Polanksi. She then released a statement saying: "Know that I will remove my name because of you, and all of the good work that you have been doing. I have read your petition. I have heard you. And I will listen."

One small step for woman, one giant leap for humankind!

Perhaps Emma's action will provoke other Hollywood celebrities to reconsider their stance on Polanksi.

Thanks, Caitlin! Thanks, Emma Thompson! (I knew I was right to love you...)

:) Steph