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You may have seen some of the Avengers got together to do a video last week encouraging people to get out and vote for Kamala Harris. Co-stars Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and more got together for the cute video HERE.
Notably absent? Well, Chris Hemsworth, but he’s Australian and probably can’t even vote here. But Chris Pratt? Yeah… Naturally, a lot of Marvel fans automatically assumed he was on the other side of things. He’s been extremely vocal about his religious beliefs lately, and that demo has been firmly, inexplicably for convicted fraudster/adjudicated rapist/habitual liar Donald Trump.
But Chris finally did come out with a statement of sorts. It was an op-ed for his mother-in-law Maria Shriver‘s Sunday Paper site. And while it wasn’t a Trump endorsement, it was something that annoyed a lot of folks even more: a “both sides” plea. Sigh…
Related: Chris’ Father-In-Law Arnold Schwarzenegger Weighs In
His argument? Whoever wins, all you voters out there shouldn’t get riled up. You should “be a good sport.” He wrote:
“Like so many of us, I’ve been doomscrolling my way through this election season. And I see things from both sides. I understand that people’s lives and rights are on the line. I also see that there are millions of people who feel overlooked and invisible to our government and are desperate for something to change.”
“Both sides”? Literally both sides??? He then compared the election to losing at sports, writing:
“I was an incredibly sensitive kid, so when I lost on the football field or got pinned on the wrestling mat, I cried. Like, a lot. Even well into my high school years. I didn’t lose all that often but when I did, it devastated me. One day after getting home from losing a wrestling match, I cried for at least an hour. I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror, tears streaming down my cheeks, and a calm bewilderment came over me. Why was I crying? I decided to stop. Looking back now, I believe it was in that moment that I became a sportsman. In that moment, I understood that losing is part of the game.”
The game. Just a game. Mm-hmm… He continued:
“I feel as though we live in a time now when so many people have yet to learn that lesson. Sometimes your team doesn’t win. The 2024 presidential election is three days away as I write this. The biggest game of all time approaches. Team Red versus Team Blue. A rematch for the ages. A showdown four years in the making. It’s giving UFC 3Million energy. I write this now because about half of the voting population is going to be incredibly disappointed on November 6th. But for me, the question is not, ‘Did your candidate win or lose?’ but rather, ‘Will you wake up the next morning and help an old lady move?'”
He added that “it’s OK to take a moment to lick your wounds when you lose” — even giving everyone permission to “go ahead and cry in the mirror.” But?
“If we become too paralyzed by defeat or too pompous in victory, allegiance to our ‘team’ can blind us to the fact that we are fellow countrymen.”
This is… maybe the worst political take we’ve seen. Or at least the most infuriating. Because the victor in a children’s wrestling match doesn’t matter. Whether your “team” wins any sport doesn’t really matter in the long run, even the Super Bowl or World Cup. But this election? It’s about LIVES. It’s about RIGHTS. It’s quite possibly about whether we ever get to vote again — or at least whether our vote matters.
Because one side is trying to put a man who doesn’t believe in the constitution back in power, a man willing to do horrible things because he doesn’t want to help anyone but himself. A man who is willing to foment hate for minorities, immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ+ community for personal gain. A man who openly admires dictators and mocks soldiers. This time without the guardrails of generals and aides who tell him NO. Not to mention with the added consequences of his own eventual loss of power being going to prison.
But for Chris? None of that matters because his rich, white, male, married-with-kids ass is going to be fine. So of course it all seems like a game to him.
Naturally even fans of Chris were apoplectic to see him trivializing their very real concerns — that have nothing to do with red or blue “teams” and everything to do with life and death.
Here are a few of the most powerful responses:
“Banal is his middle name.”
“this clown lmao human rights are on the line and he has the audacity to say this crap”
“Not with these stakes.”
“Hard pass. I am not checking in with people that voted against me having rights over my body and want to enslave me.”
“This is all he could come up with? Empty platitudes about both sides and feigning shock there isn’t honor and grace? lol. I wonder who is completely lacking in either”
“Chris Pratt is an embarrassment to himself and his family. Shameful. It’s also very obvious he’s a Trump supporter.”
“He just doesn’t want to get s**t on for voting Trump again lol”
“It upsets me to see Chris Pratt play ‘both sides have good ideas’ with what is at stake for me. My life is at stake, the bodily autonomy of my fellow trans siblings and people who can get pregnant in general, of black people and immigrants, of anyone who disagrees with Trump’s policies, and watching Chris Pratt say ‘I see both sides’ and ‘it’s not about who wins and loses’ I can not in good conscience believe he truly understands that people’s rights are on the line and still play both sides.”
“We become a nation of honorable winners & gracious losers when one of our two political parties doesn’t select a rapist with an affinity for Hitlers generals & 34 felony convictions for fraud. This isn’t Mitt, or McCain, or Poppy Bush. This is an unqualified demented fascist.”
What do YOU think of Chris Pratt’s take??
[Image via Chris Pratt/Instagram/Mark Ruffalo/Twitter.]
English (US) ·