Actor Matthew McConaughey lashed out at people on the “far-left,” calling them “arrogant” and condescending in an interview with fellow actor Russell Brand.
“On the far left, there is a lot [of people] on that illiberal left that absolutely condescend, patronize, and are arrogant toward the other 50%,” McConaughey said. “Many people, I’m sure you saw it, in our industry when Trump was voted in four years ago, they were in denial that it was actually real. Some of them were in absolute denial.”
McConaughey’s remarks came in response to a question from Brand, who said he didn’t like how many on the Left characterize conservative individuals.
“I have sensed a lot of condemnation and criticism of what I might describe as ordinary working people — a kind of offhandedness, like, ‘Oh, they’re dumb, they’re voting for Brexit, they’re voting for Trump.’ I don’t like it, and I don’t like to hear it,” Brand said. “I’ve spent enough time with people that are being described in this manner to feel ill at ease with it.”
“Do you feel that there is a way of meshing together these apparently disparate groups now? These liberal professional classes, and these, what you might describe as working, ordinary people?” Brand asked McConaughey.
McConaughey said that he thinks people should meet in the middle, which he described as happier than the polarized nature of the current political climate.
“I say, ‘I’ll meet you in the middle.’ I actually think that is more of a dare right now than it’s ever been,” McConaughey said.
“Somebody said to me the other day, ‘You know what’s in the middle, McConaughey? Yellow lines and dead armadillos,’” he continued. “And I said, ‘Let me tell you something, bud, I’m walking down the yellow line right now, and the armadillos are running free having a great time. You know why? The other two sides — the two vehicles on either side of the political aisle are so far apart, they’re f—ing tires aren’t even on the pavement anymore.”
McConaughey expressed a similar sentiment about the “illiberal Left” in October, specifically criticizing Hollywood for being “patronizing” toward conservatives.
“One of the things that … some people in our industry, not all of them, but there’s some that go to the Left so far, as our friend Jordan Peterson [says], that go to the illiberal left side so far that it’s so condescending and patronizing to 50% of the world that need the empathy that the liberals have,” McConaughey said at the time.
The actor even said that he would consider leaving his acting career to make a run for governor of his home state of Texas.
“I don’t know. I mean, that wouldn’t be up to me. It would be up to the people more than it would me,” McConaughey said of the prospect during a November appearance on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
