‘Lord Of The Rings’ Star: Right-Wing News ‘Appallingly Shallow And Manipulative’
Actor Viggo Mortensen hasn’t been in any big movies since he played Aragorn in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, but he’s promoting his new movie with Kirsten Dunst called “The Two Faces of January.” He stopped by Huffington Post Live September 16, to talk about the movie, but if a Huffington Post reporter is interviewing, you can be sure they will find a way to bash conservative media any chance they get.
As the interview turned to the actor’s past expressed liberal opinions, Mortensen lamented how most people only turn to media that reaffirms their own viewpoints, but claimed he was different because he tried to listen to right-wing news, but it was so offensive he can only listen in “small doses.” He called liberal radio is not as "brazen a form of lying" as Fox News.
"I take an interest. I do listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Mike Savage, and I do watch Fox News once in a while. I can only take small doses of it because they're so appallingly shallow and manipulative. ... It's like watching a really bad movie. It's like watching an Ed Wood movie and going, 'Wow.' Well, now that's an insult to Ed Wood, actually. But, you know, like a horror movie -- just poorly made."
Ed Wood developed a cult following for making ridiculously bad and over-the-top horror movies in the 1950s. “Plan 9 From Outer Space” is among his credits and widely considered one of the worst movies of all time. (Johnny Depp played Wood in the Oscar-winning movie of the same name.)
HuffPost Live reporter Ricky Camilleri chuckled and responded, “Ed Wood at least wasn’t malicious, right?”
Mortensen is a political liberal who appeared on a fundraising DVD for Pacifica radio and who supported liberal Democrat Dennis Kucinich, who he called "brave." He also claimed there was a “racist element” to the “the extreme, conservative wing of the Republican Party.” They “decided early on” they were “just going to say no to everything he wants, even if it’s against our own best interest as Americans, just because,” he claimed.
The actor went on to complain about objections some conservatives made against the President Obama early on. “So what if he was a Muslim? Can a Muslim not be president of the United States? Get over it."
Talking about the 1960s, the era his latest film is set in, the actor denounced the American idea of Manifest Destiny and the concept that America should help other countries in aid, specifically mentioning President John F. Kennedy. "People still had this idea, that America was this force of good,” Mortensen explained.
Camilleri agreed, “The Savior ...” he began.
Mortensen responded,“Right! No country is the Savior. No country is God’s chosen country. Not the United States, not Israel, not Saudi Arabia, not Japan, not nobody.”
— Kristine Marsh is Staff Writer for MRC Culture at the Media Research Center. Follow Kristine Marsh on Twitter.
