Vince Vaughn stars in a new film, Freaky, that was released in theaters last Friday. Honestly, I think it looks great and I’d love to see it, although I’m not going into a theater until I’ve gotten a vaccine, so I guess I’ll have to wait (I don’t live close enough to a drive in *sad face*). The concept is a new take on Freaky Friday in which Vince and Kathryn Newton switch bodies, only Vince is a serial killer and Kathryn is a cheerleader. Vince is getting a lot of praise for his performance, which is good, because he could use some good press. Earlier this year, he was photographed shaking Donald Trump’s hand in a private box at a Clemson football game in New Orleans. Social media understandably climbed all over him. Since Vince has been known to espouse some pretty conservative beliefs, most people took the chummy moment with the Idiot-in-Chief to mean Vince was a fan. During a promotional interview with the Los Angeles Times for Freaky, Vince said no, he just said hi, like he did James Carville at the same game. But Vince didn’t stop there. He said that the reason he made nice with Trump was because the way *he* was raised was you could have different beliefs and still all get along. In fact, if we don’t agree with POTUS, Vince thinks we should still stand up for him. Uhm… no.
In the era of social media, navigating those sorts of career vicissitudes has only become more challenging. In January, (Vince) Vaughn found himself being slammed on Twitter and Facebook when a video showing him chatting and shaking hands with President Trump at a college football game in New Orleans went viral. Some on the left called for Vaughn — a self-identified libertarian who has drawn fire in the past for his comments on hot-button issues like gun rights — to be canceled.
Vaughn insists the episode was overblown. “In my career I’ve met a lot of politicians who I’ve always been cordial to; I’ve met Nancy Pelosi and was cordial to her as well,” he says, noting that at that same football game he also greeted Democratic strategist James Carville, who had a cameo in “Old School.” “It was the only time I’ve ever met him. We said hello. He was very personable.” He laughs. “I didn’t get into policies.”
“I think people are more charged than ever about these things,” he continues. “But I don’t think most people take that stuff as seriously as the small percentage that’s making noise about it. I was raised with the idea that you could have different likes and beliefs and you should respect and defend that in other people, not shout it down. The people you disagree with the most, you should stand up for their right to do that.”
While some jumped to the conclusion that he was a backer of the president, Vaughn says, “The only candidate I ever supported is [former Libertarian presidential nominee] Ron Paul. … I don’t have a party that I support and endorse. In fact, for me sometimes it’s difficult to find a candidate that you feel is philosophically consistent and not just going along with whoever is funding their particular party. That’s as much as I’ll get into it at this point.”
I was raised in a family with these same ideas, that when it came to the presidency you “respect the office.” So we were welcome to disagree with the person who occupied the oval office but ultimately, they were our president and we should honor that position. That belief has been on ice since Trump got voted in. As the saying goes, we wouldn’t even p*** on him to put him out if he was on fire. The biggest difference is, he doesn’t respect the office, so why would we respect him in it? No, Vince, I do not have to stand up for him and I do not have to defend his actions when many of them are, in fact, acts of treason against the country and citizens he swore to protect. Honestly, I could understand being in a busy environment like that and all of a sudden, someone grabs you and says, “hey, the president wants to say hello.” You automatically shake their hand and afterwards wish you hadn’t or whatever, but don’t try to defend it like this was some act of patriotism that you were trying to lead by example. This man is holding the White House hostage because his ego refuses to allow him to admit he lost the popular vote again. He has encouraged violence, racism, hatred and is responsible for the unchecked spread of a virus that has killed almost 250,000 Americans. This is who Vince wants to defend?
If Vince wanted to stand up for Trump because he disagreed with him then he should have done that. But he didn’t. He made nice with him and then turned around and shamed all of us for calling him out on it.
Photo credit: Getty Images and Avalon
The privilege of being able to do this , whilst brown people are killed in the streets.
As James Baldwin said “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”
and that’s why I say “F YOU” to Vaughn. disagreement on trade policy or economic policy or energy policy is one thing, but when you look the other way on mocking disabled people and putting brown babies in cages and killing unarmed Black folk…NO, I DO NOT have to respect your views or “get along” with you.
GFY, Vince.
Amen, Bravo, and HELL YES.
You don’t have to be nice to Nazis. Actually, you SHOULDN’T be nice to Nazis. End of story.
THIS. all day long.
Those tiny little hands? No thanks. On an unrelated note I have been made privy to Thanksgiving festivities at the White House, which I will now share.
White House Thanksgiving Menu
Cheeses of Nazareth and Bitter Grapes
Lame Duck a L’Orange
Absolutely No Vegetables
Non-humble Pie, Napoleons and Spotted Dick (two scoops for you-know-who)
Thanks for the intel, fluffy!
I don’t remember seeing a “be nice to Nazis” day on the calendar. Or “Have you hugged a white supremacist today?” bumper sticker.
LOL!!!!
Pass. I can think of plenty of people I disagree with that I’ll stand up for, but I’m going to draw the line at a narcissist whose inaction killed 250K people in one year. God knows how many are going to suffering as a result of the spiteful military draw down he’s doing against the advice of the Pentagon officials he fired.
Less than a year!!! All those people gone and some of those deaths could have and should have been prevented by a national lockdown with money paid out to everyone and small businesses cared for. That’s what a REAL president would have done.
@fluffy, throw a few Big Macs, cold French fries, and Diet Coke in there and I’m apt to believe you.
This is how people tend to abuse the idea of freedom of speech. Yeah, you can say what you want but it has it’s limitations REGARDLESS – I cannot shout fire in a crowded movie theater PERIOD! Due to the mass hysteria and harm that will be caused. And yeah, we should stand up for people to speak – even those we don’t agree with with, but this too has limitations. I do not agree with KKK or Nazis being able to speak because it’s hate speech. And Trump’s speech is hate speech too and causes hysteria in his followers. No Vince, you get a thumbs down. I was never much of a fan of his anyways.
I would much prefer to spit on his feet.
I would love to have someone throw a shoe at him.
What a schmuck.
I agree. They hide it pretty well, but eventually, they show their arse.
That Ron Paul was the only candidate he ever supported—that says a lot, that he’s not too bright.
The fact that he put Casino and James Carville in the same category tells you everything you need to know at how stupid Vince was and is.
I mean, this it the same dude that went to bat for Mel Gibson.
Oh, and look up his mother’s history of embezzlement in Illinois. Vince benefitted from a upper middle class upbringing on the state’s dime.
Yep. Everyone in Chicago knows his reputation. And it ain’t good.
Back in the day, i did Chicago’s “principal for a day” program the same year he did. Can’t say I heard anything good…
Someone should explain to him that it’s nonsensical to be “cordial” to someone who literally wants you dead.
Vince is known as a huge conservative in L.A., so dont let this fool you.
He is intensely disliked— on more than one occasion with a friend who has worked with him and his manager and watched them both ignore about phone calls/texts from him to hang out. (This was somewhat soon after their project.) it wasn’t just his political views they were avoiding.
But as we can see with this movie, he is still getting work because he makes money.
I can see this. It is not being conservative, it is just being a completely unpleasant person.
A libertarian, in this day and age, is just a republican who doesn’t want the racist stain of the gop on him.
Sure, he’s not actively against gay people, but their being treated like second class citizens don’t really affect him. So, not really his problem.
He, like the gop, wants to cut any and all social safety nets and let “free markets” rule- which are really markets that are rigged by the 1% in their favor.
But he’ll pay less in taxes that way. And that is good for him. And that is all that matters.
I was just thinking this the other day! My husband has a lot of low-education and -information friends who call themselves libertarians, but are just racist who want their guns and to pay no taxes. Which to me is not distinguishable from the Republican platform, but I guess they feel cooler calling themselves something else.
So is anyone that disagrees a low education individual? That’s awfully judge mental. 70 million votes trump, are all 70 million horrible nazi loving idiots that love slavery? Or is it possible, they can be good people that simply disagree policy wise with Biden. Is Biden perfect? Is he the savior? He is an old white man who has been in government 40 plus years and any problem you have- had likely been a part of it behind the scenes.
If you vote for a racist, you are a racist and therefore a evil person period. Only racist, greedy monsters, idiots, or a combination would vote for trump and yes they are all part of the human problem preventing us from evolving.
“are all 70 million horrible nazi loving idiots that love slavery?”
short answer: yes. long answer: if they aren’t Nazi loving idiots that love slavery, they’re at least OK with voting for Nazis and people who love slavery. see “short answer”. if you’re not actively speaking/voting against Nazism and slavery and killing unarmed Black people, you are in favor of it. silence only ever helps the oppressor.
“Or is it possible, they can be good people that simply disagree policy wise with Biden.”
no, it’s not possible to be a good person and vote for DJT. what policies do you disagree with? NOT shooting unarmed Black people? Trying to bring COVID-19 under control? trying to reverse climate change? stopping the hoarding of wealth? reversing policies that favor the 1% and ONLY the 1% and f*ck over the average working person? raising minimum wage? universal healthcare?
“Is Biden perfect? Is he the savior?”
no, but he’s WORLDS better than DJT.
Cannot wait to see Freaky but yeppity, no cinemas for your nicegirl till post vaccine.
I’m not against the ideal, but cannot stand even the idea of execution. I could never shake the baby fisted hands of the pigass in chief.
I don’t make a habit of acknowledging mass murderers, felons, traitors, megalomaniacs and dictators. Especially those who are all of the above.
Wtf? No.
I’m really tired of people claiming that you can abstract politics from interactions and relationships.
Life IS politics and your allegiances says everything about you as a person and how you think people should be treated.
There’s nothing heroic about claiming you have republican friends. Certainly not anymore.
Gutless celebrities who have a platform and refuse to use it because they claim that they don’t want to “talk politics”..
Well, what you mean is you don’t want people to dislike you, however heinous those people may be.
Well, here’s news…
Many minorities don’t have that luxury and silence is compliance.
yes, silence only ever helps the oppressor, not the oppressed.
and I agree with you so much. Politics affects just about every aspect of our lives, and people who say “oh, I don’t pay attention to politics” are EXTREMELY privileged to be able to say that.
*I* am in a privileged class, but many of my friends and family are not. I am able to see that voting is not ONLY about me, but the well-being of ALL Americans. and I vote accordingly.
I’m ok with him shaking trumps hand, I am not ok with these crazy comments judging and calling him a nazi or racist for doing so. Why do democrats call themselves the party of tolerance if they are indeed so intolerant to anyone with an opinion that differs from their own? I am a pro choice, anti racist libertarian and don’t appreciate being told I have to be a democrat to be so.
an opinion that differs from their own?
like “Brown skinned babies belong in cages”?
or “Nazis are fine people”?
or praising groups like the Proud Boys?
or thinking COVID is a hoax and that trying to protect other people is bad?
or that you can “grab women by the p*ssy”?
or that mocking disabled people is ok, and even funny?
or that it’s OK to take away health care from millions of people?
or that people who got killed or maimed in warfare are “losers” and “suckers”?
it’s OK, boo, you don’t have to be ok with these comments. and no one is telling you that you have to be a democrat to be pro choice or anti-racist. you can call yourself whatever you want. but, understand that if you align yourself with a party that is NOT pro-choice and NOT anti-racist, you’ll be assumed to like them.
As for tolerance, read up on Karl Popper.
You know what they say about assuming, it makes an a** out of u and me
First, Democrats don’t call themselves the party of tolerance. I don’t even know what that means.
Either you condemn racism, homophobia, sexism, xenophobia etc. or you don’t. You don’t get to vote for or support a man that does, and then say I selectively disagree with him on this point or that. Trump has actively hurt every one of these groups. Your silence (or tolerance) of that BS speaks volumes.
If Vince had said,’ I didn’t even think about it. Someone sticks their hand out and you shake it. I didn’t mean it to be tacit support. ‘ then maybe. But he didn’t say that. Instead he said that he stands up for people that disagree with him and acted like he’s some kind of hero. He’s a rich white hetero male, lecturing us on making space for another rich white hetero male that is also a racist, homophobic, sexist, xenophobic asshole.
I think Vince can be funny BUT I think he supports Pres Frump and I am not surprised.
Imagine shaking hands with the person responsible for your child being taken from you at the border, the child who then died in a cell helped along as best she could by an older child imprisoned in the same cell. No, I bet that person couldn’t shake Trump’s hand. But a Trump supporter could feel happy doing so.