Kurt Russell Says Actors Should Just Keep Jestering And Leave Politics Alone

I guess I’m not surprised that 69-year-old Kurt Russell has some old-fashioned ideas about Hollywood, and life in general, but I wouldn’t have guessed they go back as far as the Renaissance era. Kurt and his longtime lady love Goldie Hawn gave a couple’s interview for The New York Times and Kurt let it be known that he thinks actors should stay out of politics lest they “lose their status as a court jester.” Apparently, Kurt’s very worried that the ancient art of jestering will be lost to the ages if actors start expressing their political views. Goldie’s references are much more current because she countered with a “but what about Ronald Regan?,” inadvertently giving even more credence to the argument that actors should definitely stay out of politics if they don’t have the range.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kurt’s decidedly in the shut up and juggle camp when it comes to politics and acting.

Accompanied by partner Goldie Hawn for a co-feature in the New York Times published on Wednesday, the iconic actor made clear his views on Hollywood and politics being oil and water.

“I’ve always been someone who felt we are court jesters,” said Russell who stars alongside Hawn in Netflix’s Christmas Chronicles 2. “That’s what we do. As far as I’m concerned, you should step away from saying anything so that you can still be seen by the audience in any character.”

That is not to say Russell believes that stars should not be well informed, it would just behoove them to keep their opinions to themselves, he says.

“There’s no reason entertainers can’t learn just as much as anybody else about a subject, whatever it is,” he said. “But I think that what’s sad about it is that they lose their status as a court jester. And I’m a court jester. That’s what I was born to do.”

He continued, “A court jester is the only one who can walk into the castle and put the king down as long as he doesn’t hit too close to home. I think that’s been a big, important part of all cultures throughout history, and I’d like to see it stay in ours.”

I’m not sure how dissing the king isn’t a political act but I’ve never been to court before so maybe I should just shut up and empty the chamber pots. This is where Goldie started to get itchy and countered with “but we did have a president who was an actor, Ronald Reagan” to which Kurt responded “shut yer pie-hole little lady, a jester’s jesting here” or some variation on that theme.

“Like I said, actors can learn as much as anybody else can.”

Normally, I’d be giving Kurt some serious side-eye with this and assume it’s a smokescreen to avoid coming out as a Republican but I’m not so sure. Elsewhere in the interview, he did praise Mel Gibson for discovering “something that nobody figured out for all this time we’ve been making movies” when he wrote the script for The Passion of The Christ in ancient Aramaic. But he used that example to highlight how cool it is that in his goofy Santa Claus movie, he and Goldie speak “Yulish, an elvish language created specifically for these films,” a fact that is “not to be taken lightly!” So maybe he’s just simple. And that’s OK! Maybe Kurt’s done all the learnin’ he can.

Pic: Wenn.com