Matthew McConaughey is speaking out against the "illiberal left" and "extreme right" again. The "Dallas Buyers Club" actor caused a stir last week after stated that the "illiberal left ... absolutely condescend, patronize, and are arrogant towards the other 50%," according to Forbes. On Tuesday he doubled down on his remarks during a virtual appearance on "Good Morning Britain."
"You need liberals. What I don’t think we need is the illiberals. And what I don’t think that some liberals see is that they’re often being cannibalized by the illiberals," McConaughey explained, Deadline reports
"Now there are extremes on both sides that I think are unfair, that I don’t think are the right place to be. The extreme left and the extreme right completely illegitimize the other side, the liberal and conservative side, which we need in certain places. The two extremes illegitimize those two sides. Or they exaggerate that side’s stance into an irrational state that makes no sense and that’s not fair when either side does that."
During the interview, McConaughey also addressed cancel culture and freedom of speech.
"Where the water line is gonna land on freedom of speech, what we allow and what we don’t, where this cancel culture goes, is a very interesting place that we’re engaged in as a society and are trying to figure out. We haven’t found the right spot," he said.
The Hollywood star's comments come amid political tension that is reinforcing the political divide in the United States. McConaughey is calling for unity but at the same time said democracy can only thrive with confrontation and opposing opinions.
"You’ve got to have confrontation to have unity. That’s when a democracy works really well," he explained. "I would argue we don’t have true confrontation right now, confrontation that gives some validation and legitimizes the opposing point of view. We don’t give a legitimacy or validation to an opposing point of view, we make it persona non grata, and that’s unconstitutional."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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