It’s always refreshing when an actor decides to say what he thinks about American politics – especially when that actor is British. Not.
In a backstage interview with actor Andrew Garfield at the Tony Awards Sunday, Variety asked how he felt his play, Angels in America, applied to “what is happening right now.” Garfield, who had just won the Tony Award for best actor, felt emboldened to bring up the Supreme Court decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop vs. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which he mentioned while accepting his award.
The actor expounded upon this decision, saying that it “will only embolden other human beings to think its ok to hold onto their old bigoted ideas.” Not really? It should embolden people to put into practice their First Amendment religious liberty rights, but the case itself didn’t say that bigotry or refusing to serve someone based on race, religion, or gender was acceptable.
Not that it mattered. He continued, “We need to change everything. We need to start over. The old guard needs to quietly vanish into the night and graciously give the world to the new generation.” No, no that’s not how that works. The human lifespan is longer than 50 years, so generations have to learn to live with each other. “Vanishing,” or whatever that means, isn’t really an option.
But it’s the millennial generation! It’s great! Isn’t it? “It’s diverse as hell, and it’s not something to be afraid of, it’s not a threat, it’s a fucking party. That’s what it is, it’s a fucking party, Garfield insisted. “So here we are. So we have to keep working until the change that we want to see happens.”
Not everyone wants that change. And not every person in that specific generation wants that change, Garfield. Stick to speaking for yourself.
