Judi Dench is facing public outrage for supportive comments she made about disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who’s currently serving out a 16-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault convictions.

When accusations against Weinstein first emerged in 2017, Dench, 90, was quick to condemn his “horrifying” behavior. While at the time, she acknowledged that the former film producer had “helped and championed my film career for the past 20 years,” she admitted she was “completely unaware of these offenses.”

However, now that several years have passed, the British acting legend feels “he’s done his time.”

“I don’t know, to me it’s personal — forgiveness,” Dench told The Radio Times in a new interview. “I saw a bit of film of Harvey walking with two sticks and you think, ‘Well…,” she added. “I knew Harvey and I knew him well and worked with him, and I had none of that experience — very fortunately for me.”

Weinstein, 73, is currently in prison after being convicted in California of three counts of rape and sexual assault in 2022. Prior to that, in 2020, he was convicted of rape in New York and sentenced to 23 years in prison. However, the latter conviction was overturned, and he was retried in June. Weinstein was again foundguilty of an assault, but acquitted on other sex charges.

Judi Dench (left) says she feels disgraced film tycoon Harvey Weinstein has ‘done his time’ (Getty)

Weinstein enters the courtroom in New York City in 2020 (Getty Images)

Dench’s comments have ignited a social media firestorm, with several finding them to be “out of touch.”

“Ma’am, I need you to speak to his victims before you say these things,” one wrote on X.

“Bummed to read this,” a second said. “Sure, she can do what she wants, it’s her opinion. Her influence is the problem. She knows damn well she is in a position of influence and this move, these words, reinforce the misogynistic reality we all live under and is a slap in the face of all abused.”

“Just an absolute and stunning lack of compassion for the suffering of Weinstein’s other victims,” a third decried.

Another, however, was more understanding of her remarks, calling them “personal and nuanced.” “She’s basically saying she’s processed her own experiences with Harvey Weinstein ... and frames it all around forgiveness rather than public judgment,” they added. “Classic Dench: measured, reflective, and unapologetically her own moral compass.”

The Independent has contacted Dench’s representative for comment.

In the same interview with* The Radio Times*, Dench revealed that she texts exiled Hollywood star Kevin Spacey.

“Kevin has been exonerated and I hear from Kevin, we text,” the Notes on a Scandal actor said.

Kevin Spacey has been exiled from Hollywood after multiple men accused him of sexual misconduct, which he has consistently denied (Getty Images)

Spacey, 66, was acquitted of sexual assault charges in a 2023 criminal trial in the U.K., as well as dismissed of sexual assault allegations in 2022 by a New York court.

Previously speaking to The Radio Times in 2019, Dench celebrated both Weinstein’s and Spacey’s talents, arguing that their work should be separated from their alleged offenses.

“Are we going to negate 10 years at the Old Vic and everything that he did, how wonderful he’s been in all those films?” she said of the *House of Cards *star.

“Are we just not going to see all those films that Harvey produced? You cannot deny somebody a talent,” Dench continued. “You might as well never look at a Caravaggio painting. You might as well never have gone to see Noel Coward.”