No word yet on his statements of regret for 95% of his other movies.
A few months back, Jim Carrey was very active on Twitter. Mostly, he used that platform to tell American citizens that they should give up their Constitutional rights because sometimes other people abuse those rights. He was prone to bon mots like this:
Like it or not, Wayne LaPierre is necessary. Without contrast how would we know what goodness looks like? ;^)
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) April 18, 2013
He even did a song about gun-grabbing, and he seemed to get a kick out of it:
Hey world,chck out 'Cold Dead Hand' on Funny Or Die n itunes. http://t.co/BJKKx5Wa1D Wht r they afraid of?It's just a funny little song ;^•
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) April 5, 2013
But then Carrey started getting a lot of questions he was unwilling or unable to answer. I’m paraphrasing here, but this was the gist of it:
“Hey, dude, haven’t you been in a bunch of violent movies? Are you giving back all the money you made from them?”
“Excuse me, Mr. Carrey, but don’t you play a gun-wielding lunatic in your latest masterpiece, Kick-Ass 2?”
“You used to be funny and entertaining, but isn’t it time you went back where you belong? Which is to say, the ’90s.”
Carrey was defiant about it at the time, and he was very clear: You guys are meanies and you need to shut up.
Then he stayed away from Twitter for a while. But now it’s time to start promoting Kick-Ass 2. Now he’s all like:
I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to e
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 23, 2013
I meant to say my apologies to others involve with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 23, 2013
As Sonny Bunch at the Washington Free Beacon notes:
If I’m understanding things correctly, Jim Carrey’s recent timeline looks something like:
- January 2011: Gabby Giffords shooting;
- July 2012: Aurora shooting;
- November 2012: Carrey shoots scenes for Kick-Ass 2;
- December 2012: Sandy Hook shooting;
- Present day: Jim Carrey haz a sad.
Let’s just put this out there: Jim Carrey is a hypocrite for signing on to, and cashing the check for appearing in, a film that he now decries as too violent. And he is a coward for refusing to do press for the picture.
Yep. He’s not blowing off the press tour as a conscientious objector. He just doesn’t want to be called to task for his mind-blowing hypocrisy. He doesn’t really have a good answer for it. He just has the correct answer: He was offered a huge sum of money to depict gun violence in a major motion picture, and then he said a bunch of stupid crap about Newtown without thinking, and now he’s painted himself into a corner. He doesn’t like that.
Fortunately for him, he can afford to have himself airlifted out of that corner. He doesn’t need to worry about this hurting his career, because most of his peers are stupid, bleeding-heart, violence-depicting hypocrites as well.
And fortunately for us, we’re us, so we can point out that they’re a bunch of dickheads.
I’m reminded of The Bourne Conspiracy, a videogame that came out a few years back. It was based on the Matt Damon movies, and yet Damon refused to allow his likeness to be used for the game because he thought it was “too violent.” He was more than happy to accept the money and fame he earned by playing a violent man, and then he decided it was beneath him.
Which is fine. If Damon wants to keep making bombs like Promised Land and The Informant and Green Zone, that’s his concern. And when his money runs out, followed quickly by his “principles,” it’ll be fun to watch. Or at least more fun than anything he’s appeared in recently.
No, I take that back. True Grit was good. And then there was… umm… Yeah, True Grit. Good picture.