Even though he was in a fraternity in college, Will Ferrell suggested banning fraternities and sororities altogether.
Ferrell was a member of Delta Tau Delta back in his days at the University of Southern California, but when a member of the crowd at SXSW asked him what he thought about the racist chants made by fraternity brothers at the University of Oklahoma, the actor said that maybe groups like these shouldn’t exist after all.
Stephen Browning asked him this.
“Will, we are fraternity brothers of Delta Tau Delta, albeit different chapters and years. The recent awful situation with SAE has brought out the “frat haters” in droves. Could you comment on your own fraternity experience and why (or why not) fraternity membership is still a worthy consideration for a college student?”
The 47-year-old said the Oklahoma incident was “a real argument for getting rid of the system altogether, in my opinion, even having been through a fraternity.”
“Because when you break it down, it really is about creating cliques and clubs and being exclusionary.”
But Ferrell said the culture of fraternities, which started out as “philanthropic,” has changed.
“But you gotta be careful. I was lucky in that the one I was in, we were really kind of the anti-fraternity fraternity. We were considered good enough to get the exchanges with the good sororities. We couldn’t get anyone to vote on anything, but if you needed 40 guys to show up and build a 20-foot-tall papier-mâchéversion of the Matterhorn, we were there and ready. But we didn’t take it too seriously. It was just about having fun. But I think it’s an interesting dilemma for universities these days.”
(Photo: Getty Images)
Ferrell has been promoting his upcoming film “Get Hard,” which he stars in alongside Kevin Hart. The movie is about a naive, white Wall Street trader — played by Ferrell — befriending Hart so he can teach him his street smarts for when Ferrell’s character’s upcoming prison sentence.
Critics have deemed the film “racist” because it uses the n-word and spoofs racial stereotypes. (RELATED: Will Ferrell Dresses Up As Little Debbie Because He’s ‘Low On Cash’)
Ferrell’s only response to those critics?
“Send me handwritten notes. Hopefully on nice stationery.”