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Billy Bob Thornton said he has never been interested in using his celebrity status to push his political or personal beliefs on others.
“I don’t know anything about politics,” the 70-year-old “Landman” star said on the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast last week while discussing the influence of being a high-profile public figure.
“I have no idea. And the stuff that I do believe, I don’t want to force it down somebody else’s throat because I’m not an expert on that.”
Thornton joked that staying quiet about his opinions may be exactly why he’s not as much of an awards show fixture as he was earlier in his career.
“I’m not really big on like at awards shows all of a sudden you start talking about saving the badgers and stuff,” the “Friday Night Lights” actor said.
“Like Ricky Gervais said, you know, it’s like get your little award and f–k off, you know?”
It is not the first time Thornton has sounded off on the subject.
Appearing on “The Joe Rogan Experience” in November, he revealed he has been skipping award shows over the years after winning at “plenty of them” in the past.
“We’re gonna go over here and, you know, have some dry chicken breast and green beans, you know, and we’ll listen to people get up there and pontificate about how awesome they are,” he told Rogan.
“Those are the ones that get me. It’s like, how about if you’re going to get one of these things and you truly are honored by it, well, you honor the people who gave it to you. And don’t go up there and talk about saving, you know, the Badgers in Wisconsin or something.”
Thornton also went to bat for “Landman” creator Taylor Sheridan, accusing award shows of repeatedly snubbing the series out of political bias.
“I think a lot of it’s political. I really do,” he told Variety in January. “I think some people assume Taylor is some sort of right-wing guy or something, and he’s really not.”
Thornton, who stars in “Landman” as oil executive Tommy Norris, explained that awards voters may have the wrong idea about the show’s message.
“Even with this show being about the oil business, he just shows you what it’s like. He’s not saying ‘Rah, rah, rah for oil,'” he explained.
“It’s just the people who work in this business or who are affected by this business, the people on the periphery and within the families in the business; this is what happens.”
Yellowstone, Sheridan’s smash hit series, earned just one Emmy nomination across its five-season run — Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program in 2021.
Thornton burst onto Hollywood’s radar in 1996 with Sling Blade — a film he wrote, directed and starred in that earned him an Academy Award for best writing and a nomination for best actor.
English (US)