Actor Kevin Bacon has called for “old white guys” to “shut up and listen” in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
“It’s incredible to experience this and to go through this historically, not just with the COVID-19, but clearly seeing the protests and what’s going on,” the 61-year-old Footloose star told NBC’s Jimmy Fallon this week before touching on race relations. “For an old guy like me, I was born in 1958, and to witness the passion of the young people across the world for social justice — it leaves me speechless, which is probably a good idea because I think it’s a good time for old, white guys like me to just shut up and listen.”
Bacon added that he doesn’t have a “full understanding” of what black people go through in America despite thinking he “knew everything” as a young man.
“I’ll never understand it because when I walk out of the house, I’m white,” Bacon said. “To not have that experience and privilege is something that I want to educate myself on.”
Bacon’s comments come as racial tensions are flaring across the country following the controversial deaths of several black Americans in recent months, including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and George Floyd.
Taylor, Brooks, and Floyd died during interactions with white police officers and have sparked both peaceful protests and riots to go along with calls to disband police departments and change the way the police interact with the public.
