Morgan Freeman Finds Tea Party Crazy, Says They Can ‘Move Out’
Actor Morgan Freeman blasted the Tea Party in a Wednesday interview, calling the increasingly unpopular conservative caucus “strange” and describing what the interviewer calls “craziness” emanating from the fringe GOP wing.
Morgan Freeman sat down with The Daily Beast, discussing in part the current political climate — and the site notes that the 76-year-old star is still sharp and funny, quoting a recent interview where he was caught snoozing and quipped:
“I wasn’t actually sleeping. I’m a beta tester for Google Eyelids. I was merely updating my Facebook page.”
The acclaimed actor is up next in Last Vegas, in which he stars alongside Michael Douglas, Robert DeNiro, and Kevin Kline as sixty-somethings having a Vegas stag party.
Freeman’s Tea Party remarks are sure to anger at least part of the web — one that has a habit of attaching the honey-voiced actor’s name (and implied authority) to any views a random commenter wishes to promote rapidly. (One such virally misattributed quote regarding the Newtown tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary was extensively covered by The Inquisitr.)
In the interview, the writer broaches the subject of the Tea Party and this month’s government shutdown, to which the actor replies at length.
Of the Tea Party, Morgan Freeman says that the caucus appears to be motivated solely by race, and explains:
“The lengths that people will go to to show their prejudices! You see some of these signs that say, “TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK!” What the f*ck is that? Whose country are you talking about? They are being pushed to the side, which is a good thing for them to realize: you don’t have the power you think you have in this country.”
Freeman continues, noting that while the Tea Party has a vocal fringe minority, their platform’s inherent flaw is in that President Obama wields all the power of the Executive office — undermining much of their dissent:
“Obama was legitimately elected president. If you don’t like that, fine, either move out, or make your point and get yourself elected, but don’t tear the country apart! That’s not going to get you anywhere.”
But, he concludes, the group isn’t as grassroots as it looks, declaring the small faction to be a front for moneyed Republicans with big business interests. He says:
“I think the Republicans have pretty much destroyed themselves by allowing themselves to be controlled by a small contingent of people with a lot of money.”
Do you agree with Morgan Freeman’s Tea Party comments?
