This is a photo of Anthony Mackie at last year’s Philly Comic-Con where he expressed contempt for the internet. He didn’t even listen to one of the questions posed by an attendee. Once he figured out she was referring to the internet, Mackie shut it down. He dislikes the internet so much that he referred to it as “the I-word.”

Mackie’s attitude makes me wonder why he spoke so freely to The Grio last week. Mackie said Selma was snubbed because “people are tired of being bombarded by race.” He also talked about how black youth should avoid wearing dreadlocks if they don’t want to be racially profiled. These comments generated a huge backlash. In response, Mackie said he didn’t expect to be quoted. Then he visited Wendy Williams and further alienated his fanbase with comments like “Make Daddy a sandwich! Bring Daddy some lemonade!” I wondered if Mackie was writing a How to Lose an Audience in 2 Days handbook.

A week passed. Mackie sat down with The Daily Beast. The journo appears conflicted. Mackie’s always been likable, so it’s weird to see him hit the self-destruct button. The Beast refers to Kendrick Lamar’s recent Billboard feature where the rapper spoke about respectability: “When we don’t have respect for ourselves, how do we expect them to respect us? it starts from within.” Then come Mackie’s newest quotes:

On the backlash: “With 150 characters, everybody’s a thug and everybody has an opinion. When you blast off without thinking about what you’re saying, you do more detriment than you help. Have a conversation. Listen to what people are saying.”

The importance of listening: “There is no way for white people to understand what black people go through. They can empathize; but they can’t understand it. Just like there’s no way I can understand what it is to be a woman on a day-to-day basis, I can empathize, but I can’t understand it. At some point in time, we have to stop yelling, we have to not take ourselves so seriously and we have to listen; because if you don’t listen, you can’t solve the problem. And the problem is taking little black boys lives. We have to realize that those little black boys lives are more important than what we have to get off of our chest.”

[From The Daily Beast]

I hear what Mackie’s saying about listening, and so does The Beast. The problem is that Mackie isn’t listening to any of the criticism that’s come his way. It doesn’t further progress when Mackie tells people to “act accordingly” and avoid scrutiny by not wearing dreadlocks. He co-signing the implication that wearing dreadlocks is a bad thing. His notion of “proper” behavior is also tied to his crappy stance on gender roles. It’s “proper” to make Daddy a sandwich, you know? Daddy needs to start listening to what the internet is telling him. Tuning it all out teaches him nothing.

Photos courtesy of WENN