It’s always nice when an actor or actress, someone who really ought to be pre-disposed to favor free expression, actually rejects the cancel culture mob that has become so prevalent online and in Hollywood. Over the weekend Helena Bonham Carter gave an interview to the Sunday Times in which she not only criticized cancel culture but offered some support for Johnny Depp who she described as “completely vindicated.”

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Bonham Carter said she felt Depp had been “completely vindicated” after his victory in a defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard this summer.

“I think he’s fine now,” said Bonham Carter. “Totally fine.”

Depp and Bonham Carter have worked together in films such as Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows. Depp is also godfather to Bonham Carter’s two children with former partner Tim Burton.

Asked whether she felt the decision of the Virginia jury to award Depp $15m in the suit was a sign of the #MeToo pendulum swinging back, Bonham Carter said: “My view is that [Heard] got on that pendulum. 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.”

Carter was even more blunt when defending JK Rowling who has become one of the main targets for trans activists online:

“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 judgmentalism 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.”

When asked about the film franchise’s stars — such as Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint — who have spoken out about Rowling’s remarks, Bonham Carter said, “Personally I feel they should let her have her opinions, but I think they’re very aware of protecting their own fan base and their generation.”

All of this comes out of the general idea that someone’s personal life and their public/work life can be separate.

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.”

Of course you can take anything too far, including a defense of people’s private sexual practices. Carter made clear she was not defending “someone like Kevin Spacey” who she said didn’t deserve a chance at redemption.

Of course there are a couple of takes published attacking Carter over this. The Mary Sue published one today titled ” Helena Bonham Carter Supports Rowling, Depp Instead of Being a Decent Person.” And you can find all sorts of critics on Twitter who are accusing her of being ingnorant/a monster for siding with either Rowling or Depp.

Still, it’s good to see someone with a little sense in Hollywood who doesn’t automatically side with the cancel mob. Hopefully she’ll inspire a few more people to speak up. But my guess is the only people who will do so are those, like herself, who are so well into their careers at this point that, like Dave Chappelle, they aren’t really worried about being sidelined. But if you’re 25 years old and still getting started, you’d have to be extremely brave or crazy to say something like this. It would mean a quick end to your career.