Morgan Freeman: Tea party anti-Obama sentiment ‘a racist thing’

In a CNN interview with Piers Morgan airing Friday, Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman claimed the tea party movement is racist.

Asked whether Barack Obama’s presidency has made racism better or worse, Freeman responded by saying his 2008 election made it worse — because of Republicans.

“Their stated policy, publicly stated, is to do whatever it takes to see to it that Obama only serves one term,” he said. “What’s, what does that, what underlines that? ‘Screw the country. We’re going to whatever we do to get this black man, we can, we’re going to do whatever we can to get this black man outta here.’”

When Piers Morgan insisted that race doesn’t play a role, Freeman shot back that “it is a racist thing.”

The actor also said it unnerved him to see the tea party gaining traction because it shows the hatred that exists in the United States.

“It just shows the weak, dark, underside of America,” Freeman said. “We’re supposed to be better than that. We really are. That’s, that’s why all those people were in tears when Obama was elected president. ‘Ah, look at what we are. Look at how, this is America.’ You know? And then it just sort of started turning because these people surfaced like stirring up muddy water.”

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