Matthew McConaughey's 'Cancel Culture' Comments Are Turning Heads
Matthew McConaughey has made a name for himself as somewhat of a relaxed, laissez-faire individual, echoed by the roles and characters he plays; you can often find him in the role of romantic lead, shirt off, alright, alright, alright-ing to the camera. But as of the early 2010s, he has begun a rebranding, of sorts, in which he has become more thoughtful about his character choices. This attempt to break out the typecast mold was solidified with roles such as an astronaut in Interstellar, a detective in True Detective, and an AIDS patient in Dallas Buyers Club (via Entertainment Weekly).
Off-camera, McConaughey seems to be playing the role of political correspondent. Last month, he made headlines as he addressed the possibility of running for office. And this week, an interview with Piers Morgan has some fans scratching their heads.
McConaughey finds political extremes and cancel culture to be 'unconstitutional'
During an interview with Piers Morgan and Susana Ried on Good Morning Britain, the actor said, "We need liberals, what I don't think we need is illiberals. What I don't think some liberals see is they're being cannibalized by the illiberals. There are extremes on both sides that I think are unfair... the extreme left and extreme right completely illegitimize the other side. They exaggerate the other side's stance into an irrational state that makes no sense. That's not fair" (via Deadline).
He continued, explaining his thoughts on "cancel culture" being problematic. "Where the water line is gonna land on freedom of speech, what we allow and what we don't, where this cancel culture goes, is a very interesting place that we're engaged in as a society and are trying to figure out. We haven't found the right spot," he said.
He ends with something of an attempt to unite both sides, saying "You've got to have confrontation to have unity, I think we can all agree on that. That's when the democracy works really well."
The response from the public is quite divided on Twitter. Well some people find his views to be founded, others tweeting sentiments such as this user, who said "Straddling the fence as it pertains to human rights, civil rights, and equitable treatment of marginalized communities is peak white privilege," and another who simply tweeted, "He can go away now."