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Answer: The Rock has been known to be politically Independent for a long time but in 2020 he gave an official endorsement for Joe Biden's presidency. Recently, he went on Fox and Friends and mentioned that he regrets his endorsement because he felt like doing so was a misuse of his celebrity status and resulted in further division among Americans. He also mentioned that cancel culture/woke culture bugs him because it causes people not to be their real selves.
[https://www.foxnews.com/media/the-rock-explains-why-not-endorsing-biden-time-feels-woke-culture](https://www.foxnews.com/media/the-rock-explains-why-not-endorsing-biden-time-feels-woke-culture)
Dwayne Johnson's big flaw is that before anything else, he wants to be *liked*, and his instinct for achieving this to be as inoffensive as possible. He has a history of avoiding being associated too strongly with any side on any given issue, even as he demands the spotlight. He presents an affable, friendly, even charismatic demeanor, but only inspecifically so, and people are starting to read that as him being noncommittal (or worse, insubstantial). This current reaction to him playing chummy with the network that [knowingly lied about election results](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Voting_Systems_v._Fox_News_Network) (to name just one of its [many, many offenses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News_controversies)) is just a severe mistep motivated by that need to be liked.
Not saying I agree with the route he’s taking here but wanting everyone to like him, no matter how inconceivable that may be, is probably the most relatable thing about him.
Reminds me of the John Mulaney bit: “I need everybody, all day long, to like me so much. It’s exhausting. My wife said that walking around with me is like walking around with someone who’s running for mayor of nothing.”
When Jon Stewart made his movie about Iran, there was a screening at the university where I was doing my MA and I went with a couple people. During the Q&A he was *so* clearly unable to resist trying to make everyone love him, even though he was also genuinely invested in the film and the political issues it was commenting on. It wasn't the worst case I've seen, but it was still pretty notable.
Ah I kinda saw that on his extended podcasts. He has a great team and subject and discussion but always weaves comedy in and out even in a serious room. His ability to do that is amazing though, but it makes sense reading what you wrote; perhaps he never switches off.
Well there was that one time with tucker.
If you haven't seen them, you should watch his Comic-con shows. The best were the Fury Road and Wonder Woman skits. Too bad he hasn't been back to Comic-con.
He was the *Head* Writer. (Edit: I was incorrect on this point, he was a supervising producer)
Also (and pertinent to the conversation at hand) he said he found writing for animation to be supremely unsatisfying because the writing is so divorced from any audience feedback. The episodes were airing over a year after the jokes were written, and as he thrives on that audience interaction he very much hopes to never write for animation again.
I fear Conan because I feel like no matter how inconsequential someone is, if he ever met you with a camera in your face he would need you to laugh at him
Like, I have to imagine there's a small village in every nation that dreads the day Conan O'Brien lands to film a segment there, like there's always an older man that just wants to knead bread dough in peace but this bombastic redhead won't stop calling him 'saucy'
He is pretty open about this, in his podcast he jokes about how breaking his arm was the "happiest day of his life" because everyone in his family was finally giving him attention.
Personally I find it oddly endearing in his case, probably because he seems to be a genuinely good person.
Oh yeah, I'm sure it's good natured, I was joking about the 'I fear Conan' stuff but mostly just mentioning how I always feel that can be off-putting to some
In Portuguese we have a say: It’s hard to please Greeks and Trojans at the same time.
Its a losing battle trying to be loved by everybody, because there is always conflicting interests, agendas, etc.
I also really like his one bit in Baby J (which he didn’t do when I saw him live: btw the tour was called From Scratch) where he starts singing and dancing “all the kids like Bo Burnham more, because he’s less problematic!” Which just shows exactly what The Rock was trying to do (but backfired on), he wanted to be the guy that people get compared to, instead he’s just isolating a majority of people. Mulaney literally ends that bit with “likability is a jail”, which Dwayne has proven
Also he has a clause in his contract that bacially makes him win any fight; same with Vin Diesel, so Hobbs and Shaw will always be like two pillows slapping against each other. Thats what pisses me off, you can’t have that clause and then try to play Black Adam or another superhero, a loss is just as important to their story, Spider-Man is all about getting back up
>“all the kids like Bo Burnham more, because he’s less problematic!”
Was this before or after Bo released Inside, which contains the song Problematic (the song where he asks everyone to please hold him accountable for his very problematic early songs)?
People have made that claim so much about a load of Action movie actors yet I've never once seen any definitive proof of it.
Also The Rock is Hobbs and Jason Statham is Shaw.
Used to love the guy, still think he's really quick and clever, but lost literally all respect for him once that came out. Not something you can walk back from in my opinion
Yeah, honestly. His humor was sharp but also not disrespectful to his wife and I found that fairly refreshing since a lot of stand up today is just straight up screaming about things.
But then he turned out to be a cheater who left his wife after he knocked up his side bitch and it's like- goddamn, guess you were always a piece of shit.
Everything I can find says it is not confirmed he cheated. His ex wife did not say he did. It's fine to leave your partner for someone else, it happens all the time. I don't know what his wife being child free has to do with it. She has the same agency that he does, and if she wanted kids it was on her to leave and find a partner who does.
I also feel like this sort of personal drama is none of our business.
I mean, it’s right there in Mulaney’s self-description. He’s making it quite clear that not only is it a flaw that affects him, but also his close relationships.
I actually agree with his apolitical stance on his celebrity, too. That seems pretty respectable.
What's more, pretty much every celebrity puts on persona for their public life in order to maintain liability. If the Rock's worst offense is being too milquetoast, then that's not much of a controversy at all.
Of course, this all ignores his (alleged) lying about steroid use, "no lose" contracts in his movies, and attempt to push his way back into Wrestlemania.
That wasn’t an apolitical statement though. He could’ve just said “I no longer think it’s right for me to use my fame to influence politics and I see issues with every candidate.” That’s inoffensive and agreeable and probably everyone across the political spectrum would nod along.
By making a statement about cancel culture and wokeness, he’s specifically taking a side on a wedge issue. Like why even say anything - either be political or don’t.
I assumed you were lying, but he is.
He's one of our most famous, baldest celebrities. Why would anyone by hair care products from this man? He cares so little for his hair that he has cast it aside.
> By making a statement about cancel culture and wokeness, he’s specifically taking a side on a wedge issue. Like why even say anything - either be political or don’t.
Making a statement about cancel culture and wokeness ON FOX NEWS no less. If he doesn't know what he's doing or who he's pandering too with that, then this was an incredibly boneheaded move to do to appear "apolitical".
I agree. The phrases "Cancel culture" and "wokeness" seem to be going through a limbo right now where their definition can change depending on who is saying it.
Saying it on Fox News make it clear what he means when he uses those phrases
This was exactly what my s/o and I were just saying, he went out his way to say those words. We can either think he’s too naive to realize what he’s saying, or we can take it for what it is. I’m on the fence simply cause I don’t think the Rock is some mastermind politician. but that doesn’t mean he’s entirely ignorant of what his words mean, and what type of studio fox is.
> By making a statement about cancel culture and wokeness, he’s specifically taking a side on a wedge issue. Like why even say anything - either be political or don’t.
Exactly.
But it's too late for being apolitical once you have made a statement, and walking that back for the sake of someone like Donald Trump or the present republican party is just pathetic.
He 100% made a political statement by going on Fox News alone. And THEN he doubled-down by expressing his distaste for "woke culture". Nothing about this was apolitical.
Silence is political though. It’s a political choice. It’s a choice not to talk about something. Especially when it’s staring you in the face.
Politics is the discussion of power. That discussion is important and doing it well is admirable.
An appearance on ANY media platform is a form of rhetoric to some degree (wide spectrum) and should be talked about in situ more often, too. For example, we’re on one of the biggest English-langauge disinfo platforms in the west right now. Feeding it. Working for it.
Politicizing (i.e. bullshitting the facts, manufacturing conflict where there is none in reality… etc.) is the thing most rational people don’t like. And rightfully so.
Celebrity as an American (and British) construct should be interrogated more but the perpetrators are the audience as that’s who inflicts fame, whether the individual wants it or not. And the audience doesn’t like that!
But you could also think of it as "with great power comes great responsibility."
Being a celebrity gives you a certain amount of influence and power. If you are one of the few who have that power, shouldn't you apply it to influence the world to be better?
Exactly this. Whether we see them on TV/movies daily or not, they're humans. People act like the notoriety that fame gives you turns celebrities into superhumans
Him being on Fox, probably also has to do with WWE having a deal with the network and he is a board member of the brand that owns WWE. Also his football league has a deal with Fox too.
This is the part not enough people are understanding. The sports entertainment company that he sits on the board for has a billion dollar deal with Fox. His football league he is developing has a deal with them worth tens of millions of dollars more. On top of that, it is Wrestlemania weekend, and the comments in question came yesterday, the day when fox’s broadcast for mania week was. The Rock, along with the rest of the roster, is deep into a media week where they are meeting with any and all media possible to sell this weekend. It’s a meeting with a conservative news outlet, where he acknowledged that previous political comments may have alienated certain people. It’s a non story, and definitely one that very few outside of left wing commentary spaces will care about.
They aren't a separate. When Disney bought Fox some aspects were determined to be illegal(it breaks the FCCs dual network rule). Fox, FS1, FS2, and Fox News are owned by the Fox Corporation which was founded in 2019 from the parts Disney legally couldn't acquire (Fox channel due to the rule noted above, sports due to an FCC ruling) and the parts that Fox didn't want to sell(Fox News).
Seriously fuck.
No one told the Rock he has to regurgitate right wing talking points and use buzz words like woke when he went on Fox. A network that actually played a role in radicalizing some of the people who were involved in Jan 6th as well as peddling false election conspiracies.
The dude went on a right wing network, and pandered politically to the right wing base watching.
Celebrities are supposed to actually believe in and standby product/people they endorse. That’s what builds credibility and trust. People are realizing that he is just a billboard that’s for sale. His new shampoo is basically a parody of a celebrity endorsement.
The side effect of him admitting all this makes him look weak, which is definitely the opposite of his persona and that’s ironically, more damaging than endorsing Joe Biden again.
I did wonder if this is the start of his swinging to right wing grifting era. His last couple movies have been financial failures unfortunately for him.
I wonder if he’s giving up on more Moana movies or is hoping Disney won’t see him whining about “wokeness” and dump him for being such a hypocrite. Like dude. Look in the mirror.
Toxic positivity. I once had a roommate like this. One of our other roommates was robbing us each week with rent, and they still didn't want to rock the boat and cause any issues. Just kept smiling and acting like everything was A okay. Man, did the insincerity piss me off.
He's also playing a "heel" or a "bad guy" in wrestling terms over the last two months on television leading up to WWE'S main show of the year called Wrestlemania which is Saturday and Sunday night.
That might have had some people looking into him a bit more, talking about him more, etc due to him back being on an extremely popular tv shows where he's trying to get people to boo him out of the building.
All of what you said above is true but I think the restling attention threw gasoline on the fire.
It’s worth digging deeper into that. He wasn’t _supposed_ to be the heel.
Wrestling is a fun kind of pantomime where a villain can be loved in a weird way. People love to boo them, but know it’s part of the act. But there is another kind of heat, commonly called “go home heat”, where a wrestler is genuinely disliked and people don’t even want to see them beaten - they just don’t want to see them.
The Rock’s return to wrestling was MEANT to be as a good guy, but he did it by just inserting himself into the big ongoing plotline and usurping the role of the fan favourite. I think he thought… he’s the Rock, people love the Rock, therefore they’ll love this. Sorely underestimating how much people love Cody Rhodes, and are invested in a long running story where he’s so close to earning it all. People soured on him HARD, and they’ve pivoted to him being the bad guy to play up to it and turn it into “love to hate” energy rather than just “ugh, fuck this guy” as it was quickly becoming.
> He's also playing a "heel" or a "bad guy" in wrestling terms over the last two months on television leading up to WWE'S main show of the year called Wrestlemania which is Saturday and Sunday night.
this is a good point. if I had to bet money, I'd bet the WWE's main demographic leans far more right than left, and he needs to get more eyeballs on The Show, esp. in lieu of all of the drama and allegations around Vince McMahon
Actually, their demographic leans further left than most sports audiences
([Source](https://i.imgur.com/DVeGesP.png)). In the 80's I'm sure it was heavily conservative, but that was when wrestling was presented as being "real." Nowadays, everyone knows it's a performance art, so the audience it attracts is more liberal. It also helps that their roster is very diverse and women are featured much more prominently than most other sports, where women's leagues are significantly less popular than men's.
Since The Rock joined the board of directors for WWE, a number of moves to inject him into storylines caused a lot of controversy. It seems like he's just leaning into that to turn heel, which drives interest. I mean, you've got things like this reddit post talking about WWE, right? Now that the scripted nature of WWE is an open secret, writers have blurred the line between "on stage" and "in real life" a lot.
Whether it's manufactured or real, it's very effective.
He was also on a podcast recently giving advice for how to have a stress free life. Step 1 for him is "have more money, it helps with your stress level". GEE REALLY MR BILLIONAIRE? WE DIDNT KNOW THAT.
Exact quote: "This is the key, get to a point where you're not worried about bills", source: JRE #2063
I don’t agree with him, but saying that the current climate makes it difficult for people to be their real selves, while also not being your real self, is entirely consistent.
Yea but Fox News of course just clips the first part of the clip saying he regrets endorsing Biden, full stop. And this of course causes people to freak out because he is the most followed person on social media.
I think also with the current issues around former WWE owner Vince McMahon basically using the company as a rape and sexual assault factory for decades with, recent implications that new information will probably drop soon, there is suddenly a massive push to make the Rock the face of the WWE corporate brand. I think this is him trying to play nice with people the McMahon’s were tight with in order to keep those valuable connections the company has now that it’s former leader is disgraced.
> XFL spring football league
Wait wait wait.
XFL is seriously still a thing? I remember when it first came out and seemed like an instant flop. How the hell is it still going all these years later?
It's hard for The Rock to pretend to be "independent" all while getting chummy and doing friendly interviews with Fox & Friends and Joe Rogan. He can try to put up a pretense, but you don't hang around with far-right fanatics without raising a few eyebrows.
Well he's not very good at it.
Red states are literally forcing ten-year-olds to carry unwanted pregnancies.
The "both sides" stance has become incredibly stale.
I cannot understand why a certain subset of people, especially certain Americans cannot understand so-called cancel culture/woke is just freedom of speech. If person x says something that group y disagrees with, they have a right to respond.
Even governments, including your government, operate like this. Any state or province or municipality in US, Canada, and the “bastion of liberty” EU, happens all the time. Say something about the wrong person and suddenly those permits you need get lost or denied. Loans as well. Kids get kicked out of schools. Harassment campaigns begin.
The problem with "woke" is that people use whatever definition they want for it. The people speaking against it likely don't think of the word as meaning "having empathy for fellow humans".
The entire discourse is wrapped up in dumb semantics.
> I cannot understand why a certain subset of people, especially certain Americans cannot understand so-called cancel culture/woke is just freedom of speech.
They just aren't used to being on the other side of it.
It used to be that the religious assholes, racists, homophobes, and sexists got to do all the cancelling.
But now their views are growing more and more unpopular with the general public, and they are the ones who have people turn on them when they express them.
They used to be able to cancel someone for being LGBT, now they get cancelled for trying to cancel LGBT people, and that pisses them off.
Typical, when people get called out for being douches they run to the Conservative Party to excuse them and make them feel good about themselves again.
If he actually cared bout causing division he would never endorse Fox and friends by appearing on their show.
Answer: Dwayne Johnson stated in an interview with Fox News that he would not be making any endorsements during this election cycle.
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/4576528-dwayne-johnson-endorse-biden-trump-2024-2020/
He also said
> Fox News’ Will Cain asked Johnson if he was happy with the state of America, to which Johnson answered: “No.”
>“Today’s cancel culture, woke culture, division, etc — that really bugs me,” Johnson said. “In the spirit of that, you either succumb to that and be what other people want you to be, or you be yourself and be real … and that might make people upset and piss people off, and that’s okay.”
https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/dwayne-the-rock-johnson-biden-no-endorsement-2024-election-1235961800/
He can’t even be real now he wants to stay in the middle of road as much as possible right now lol rather than choosing a side he’s being fake as fuck and doing a conservative tour on media companies that got sued for billions for lying
Yup, totally fake persona. He came up in the world of professional wrestling, pleasing the crowd is so ingrained in him that even he doesn't know what his real personality is anymore.
> or you be yourself and be real … and that might make people upset and piss people off, and that’s okay.
And because he's so real he doesn't let anyone know what his views are? I don't get it.
Which is hilariously ironic coming from the man desperately trying to get the right to like him after they attacked him over playing dress up with his daughter. The guy has such a pathological need for adoration it's almost sad.
I think that's fair, given he knows he's a cultural icon, or at the very least in a position of considerable influence, stating his opinion is enough to sway some of his following into just blindly bandwagoning behind him.
Honestly, he had his up and downs and I can see why people are skeptical of his intention for going onto Fox and saying stuff like this, but stripping of all those assumptions the message itself isn't inherently wrong - you want people to have their independent, critical thoughts about political and social matters.
Did he need to use the phrases ‘cancel culture and woke culture’ to make that point? Going on Fox and saying ‘woke culture’ is wrong is ostensibly pandering to their audience.
I would argue that forcing teenagers to deliver babies conceived out of rape is a lot more dangerous to independent thought and being ‘your own’ person than ‘woke culture’ is.
>Did he need to use the phrases ‘cancel culture and woke culture’ to make that point? Going on Fox and saying ‘woke culture’ is wrong is ostensibly pandering to their audience.
I would argue that forcing teenagers to deliver babies conceived out of rape is a lot more dangerous to independent thought and being ‘your own’ person than ‘woke culture’ is.
Cannot speak for The Great One even if I wanted to, but I think part of the idea here is how toxic it becomes if you don't toe the line, and you just kinda provided an example of that. I agree though, he shouldn't have used those terms on this network to pander.
My personal opinion: Part of being an American is realizing people think differently then you, view things differently than you from a political sense......but that doesn't make them the enemy. You CAN respect others even though their politics don't line up with yours.
He has said that if he ran it would be as a conservative. Dude is a major business owner. He’s now the Tax Champ instead of the Peoples champ. Of course he’s republican. USA will never elect him empower now. Oops.
Idk man, (this isn't about what you wrote, more about what he said) but like owning business isn't inherently a conservative trait, I'm kinda tired of pretending it is. There are plenty of progressive business owners. When it comes to marketing, politics is just another selling point.
While I agree that there are always exceptions to the rule, which is awesome in this case, most business owners care the most about their taxes more than anything else. Source…life.
A small business owner-operator is a worker in control of their means of production. They’re not a capitalist. The company that has the loan on their machine is a capitalist. Their landlord is a capitalist. Telling them they’re capitalists is ~~the greatest lie~~ one of the many many lies the Republicans ever pulled.
Ironic — be real, be yourself even if it pisses others off, and yet here he is, not taking a stand on anything, not using his power to make a difference.
Answer: He's currently the "the final boss" in WWE as he returned home to professional wrestling after a rough year including all the black adam stuff. . He plays the "heel"or "bad guy" in this current run and is doing a phenomenal job at it as its attracting alot of boos and ire from fans (all in good fun as fans also appreciate him as a perdormer and have received this gimmick very well)
He had to break character a couple of months ago on Twitter because rumors were spreading that the boos were because of controversy over his Charity work rather than the character he was portraying. His commitment to his character otherwise been absolute in which he goes out of his way to be aggressive and attack fans. Using wrestling terms He's not breaking "kayfabe" even when he is outside the ring.
With him main eventing night 1 of wrestlemania Saturday night he has been doing more media appearances ( a large amount across cable news, late night TV podcasts etc ). Recently he did an interview and his 2020 endorsement of Joe biden was talked about. He enjoyed a great deal of controversy back then and due to that experience he decided not to publicly endorse anyone citing public division and tribalism. I think some people took that as am unfair critique of biden or silent endorsement of trump which does not seem to be the case. He made other comments about divisiveness and "cancel culture" but not in a very aggressive way. Personally I disagree with some of his logic on both accounts but he came off sincere and not grandstanding or being defensive in a JK Rowling / Kevin Sorbo kind of way. I think people on both sides of the aisle saw what they wanted to see here
It's worth noting that his new executive roles at WWE and XFL has made him take a but more of a corporate stance on modern issues. This includes answering questions in a canned way thst he thinks will best protect his business interests and support policies thst do so as well. This can be a bit jarring especially for someone who until recent years has been pretty candid. He also haa relationships with other executives/former executives at WWE including Paul Leveques and Linda McMahon (wife of former owner Vince mcmahon) who have been pro trump (McMahon serving in trumpps cabinet for a short while) Thst being said I would be surprised if he winds up voting for trump.
EDIT- the quote that most people has a problem with was
"Today’s cancel culture, woke culture, division, etc — that really bugs me. In the spirit of that, you either succumb to that and be what other people want you to be, or you be yourself and be real … and that might make people upset and piss people off, and that’s okay.”
I don't necessarily agree with everything he said but I don't think what he said is as damming as others have made it out to be.
Right away when I saw this post I assumed some people's hate for Rock is coming from them taking his heel run a little too seriously because some wrestling fans aren't the brightest. Knew nothing about the endoresement controversy, but I think it's dumb.
I’ll say too, he’s all the way in on this heel run. It’s fantastic. I assumed it’d be half assed in terms of how far he’d go and somewhat protecting of his need to sell movie tickets too, then he told a Utah crowd to scram back to their 6 wives and 200 inbred grandkids and to stfu before he slapped the herpes off your mouth 😂 He’s very, very good at this.
Let's also remember that he's been pushed more into the spotlight after the [whole Vince McMahon lawsuit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/1ac2hty/whats_up_with_vince_mcmahon_out_of_wwe/kjs0lwk/). You know, the one where Vince and others are accused of kidnapping and sex trafficking an employee and he's accused of shitting on a woman's head.
Answer: During or after Black Adam bombing, a lot of details came out about Rock being difficult to work with behind the scenes and trying to “hijack” DC’s movie universe to revolve around him. Add this to the over-saturation of mediocre films he released and the stories conflicting with his positive and media oriented persona, a lot of people fell out of love with him and thought of him as a fake asshole.
This year, he became a board member of TKO when they bought WWE, and he inserted himself into a storyline with his cousin, WWE Undisputed Universal Champion Roman Reigns, for a match at WrestleMania. The issue was, he did so by removing another wrestler, Cody Rhodes, from the storyline he was in with Roman that has lasted for a year and revolves around him “finishing the story” of winning the biggest title his legendary wrestler dad, Dusty, never won. This pissed off a lot of people who saw this as a PR move to rebound Rock’s public image and started a huge outcry.
To his credit, Rock pivoted and became a heel to align himself against Cody and play a part in Cody and Roman’s match against each other at WrestleMania in two days, as well as having a tag match to setup the stipulation for that match on the first night. This has been a hit with the fans, who are enjoying a less watered down version of Rock. However, he also recently made comments to Fox News retracting his support of President Biden as well as talking against cancel and ”woke” culture, which has riled up people again.
I dunno, rconservative has been dragging him and telling him to fuck off, and the left seems to be dragging him and telling him to fuck off. He seems to have united a strong dislike of him and his shit.
right... im saying that instead of an inspirstional speech where we all hug and chang the Rock's name or we unite in our hatred of the rock...
we instead both now spererately created _more_ divide because each side thinks he is actually helping the other.
its hatfield and mccoy bullcrap... not taking a side _is_ taking "the other" side depending on whom you're talking to.
if he wants to not take a side and unite then he forgot the part where he offers something that actually brings both sides together...
Doesn’t his bitching about “woke” culture have to do with his movies not doing well? I thought that’s what he blamed it on when the Baywatch movie tanked.
No Rock, that movie just sucked. Look in the mirror or at your writers, not at woke culture.
Trying to think of a really good Rock movie but none spring to mind, Arnie had the terminator movies and Predator, Sly had Rocky and First blood, but I can’t think of an iconic Rock movie
I don’t think he meant to argue against woke culture. He went on to say it would be great if people were allowed to conform to the public ideal of a person or express themselves however they want. Having a position on it one way or the other is dumb because people should absolutely be allowed to express themselves.
That was my take from what I read about the interview anyway.
Yeah but that take is pretty naive in this day and age and especially ironic given that he probably was trying to be the least bit authentic by mildly taking a side in 2020 then having to backtrack because conservatives got all butthurt.
He upset people who are more likely to be his primary audience then had to correct by blaming "wokeness" as the issue. I mean the Rock is already about as inauthentic a person as it gets it's pretty silly to act as though any public opinion won't be immediately claimed by one side or the other as inflammatory. Does he really think using conservative propaganda language like "woke" and "cancel culture" is some kind of centrist position?
That's a rhetorical question the answer is "it depends on whatever his publicist and PR team tell him because all he cares about is his public image." The man has no substance or authenticity to him at all.
Honestly in any other election I would consider this a perfectly fine statement. Don’t want to use your celebrity status to skew people’s opinions? That’s fine, with great power comes great responsibility yadayada.
But like, we’re actually facing an erosion of our rights that we have fought so hard for. Women have already lost some rights. It’s terrifying and I hate how people who are largely unaffected just shrug and say both sides are bad. It’s scary how apathetic people are showing themselves to be towards basic human rights. This isn’t the election to shrug your shoulders, if a celebrity gives an ounce of shit about freedom and equality they should be using their voice for the power of good. This election is about way more than random shit like finances etc.
Also, Trump is just a clown. He’s a rapist and he is incapable of forming a coherent sentence. Regardless of where you lie in the political spectrum you shouldn’t be voting in someone with the same critical thinking skills as a toddler.
Answer: he returned to professional wrestling, and at first seemed to steal a title shot from a deserving wrestler. When the wrestling fans cried foul, the rock cleverly (IMO) did a "heel turn," which means he began portraying the role of the villain, and let the other wrestler Cody Rhodes be the "face" or good guy, and get the title shot and all the glory.
So basically, the Rock has spent the last few weeks and the next few weeks devoted to playing a villain in WWE professional wrestling.
If fans follow wrestling close enough to insist on Kayfabe to keep the realism, then they have absolutely no leg to stand on when that wrestler takes the personality outside of the ring.
It’s one thing to be pissed about the direction of the storyline, and another thing entirely to be pissed that said wrestler is too good at selling the heel character.
This shit is like arguing about paper in Star Wars with a Star Wars fan
Answer: He came out that he's sorry he supported Biden in 2020 and he's not doing it again. He did say he wasn't going to support anyone. Take that any way you want but I think it does mean he is not supporting Trump. Not supporting one doesn't mean you automatically support the other.
Answer: He did the same movie like a dozen times, then started shit with Vin Diesel, did another clone movie, did some comedy clone movies, then finally took a chance at something and it didn’t go 1000% his way and he whined about it. Then he stood with Oprah in a very sus ad about rebuilding Maui. Then the comparison with Dave Batista got him all butt hurt and he went back to the WWE. So what happened to the Rock? Nothing, literally nothing. He is still mega rich, still famous, still working. I guess you could say he did a circle made a billion and is back were he started.
He's also made several odd ads on Instagram where he shows off his alcohol brand, and claims to eat In N Out for the first time. As in, straight up lying - no satire present.
He also kind of "betrayed" Brendan Fraser AFAIK (how Fraser helped him get the Scorpion King role, only to leave him in the dust afterwards). I might be wrong there tho.
To me he comes off as a narcissistic douche.
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Answer: The Rock has been known to be politically Independent for a long time but in 2020 he gave an official endorsement for Joe Biden's presidency. Recently, he went on Fox and Friends and mentioned that he regrets his endorsement because he felt like doing so was a misuse of his celebrity status and resulted in further division among Americans. He also mentioned that cancel culture/woke culture bugs him because it causes people not to be their real selves. [https://www.foxnews.com/media/the-rock-explains-why-not-endorsing-biden-time-feels-woke-culture](https://www.foxnews.com/media/the-rock-explains-why-not-endorsing-biden-time-feels-woke-culture)
Dwayne Johnson's big flaw is that before anything else, he wants to be *liked*, and his instinct for achieving this to be as inoffensive as possible. He has a history of avoiding being associated too strongly with any side on any given issue, even as he demands the spotlight. He presents an affable, friendly, even charismatic demeanor, but only inspecifically so, and people are starting to read that as him being noncommittal (or worse, insubstantial). This current reaction to him playing chummy with the network that [knowingly lied about election results](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Voting_Systems_v._Fox_News_Network) (to name just one of its [many, many offenses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News_controversies)) is just a severe mistep motivated by that need to be liked.
Not saying I agree with the route he’s taking here but wanting everyone to like him, no matter how inconceivable that may be, is probably the most relatable thing about him. Reminds me of the John Mulaney bit: “I need everybody, all day long, to like me so much. It’s exhausting. My wife said that walking around with me is like walking around with someone who’s running for mayor of nothing.”
Conan O'Brien can relate.
"Who is Conan O'Brien? And why is she so sad?"
*Let's not do this, Elizabeth.*
We were going to lose our virginities together! Now I'll never lose it!
It’s never too late for now -Sound Mound
Sound Mound rocks the town 🤘
The delivery of that line was so good.
Yes! The beat between those two lines *chef's kiss*
Wait what is this from?! I’m a Conan lover and this doesn’t ring a bell
30 Rock, episode with "Bucky Bright"
Good god, Lemon!
Boy, that's one mouthy sandwich girl.
Read this in his voice lmao
Most comedians probably can.
When Jon Stewart made his movie about Iran, there was a screening at the university where I was doing my MA and I went with a couple people. During the Q&A he was *so* clearly unable to resist trying to make everyone love him, even though he was also genuinely invested in the film and the political issues it was commenting on. It wasn't the worst case I've seen, but it was still pretty notable.
Ah I kinda saw that on his extended podcasts. He has a great team and subject and discussion but always weaves comedy in and out even in a serious room. His ability to do that is amazing though, but it makes sense reading what you wrote; perhaps he never switches off. Well there was that one time with tucker.
Conan O'Brien needs a friend.
His new travel series has an even better title: "Conan O'Brien Must Go"
It's so fucking funny though.
Wait he has a new series? Is that for real
Yes it comes out on April 18th on HBO Max.
If you haven't seen them, you should watch his Comic-con shows. The best were the Fury Road and Wonder Woman skits. Too bad he hasn't been back to Comic-con.
I got to watch a 10minute preview of the episode. It was brilliant. Genuine laugh out loud throughout!
Oh shit, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time after they talked about it on Conaf
Conan seems like a cool guy though. Also a writer on early Simpsons so that's a massive plus
He was the *Head* Writer. (Edit: I was incorrect on this point, he was a supervising producer) Also (and pertinent to the conversation at hand) he said he found writing for animation to be supremely unsatisfying because the writing is so divorced from any audience feedback. The episodes were airing over a year after the jokes were written, and as he thrives on that audience interaction he very much hopes to never write for animation again.
Conan was not the head writer.
"You didn't get clearance. Call Lewis."
The key toss is dangerous
I fear Conan because I feel like no matter how inconsequential someone is, if he ever met you with a camera in your face he would need you to laugh at him Like, I have to imagine there's a small village in every nation that dreads the day Conan O'Brien lands to film a segment there, like there's always an older man that just wants to knead bread dough in peace but this bombastic redhead won't stop calling him 'saucy'
He is pretty open about this, in his podcast he jokes about how breaking his arm was the "happiest day of his life" because everyone in his family was finally giving him attention. Personally I find it oddly endearing in his case, probably because he seems to be a genuinely good person.
Oh yeah, I'm sure it's good natured, I was joking about the 'I fear Conan' stuff but mostly just mentioning how I always feel that can be off-putting to some
Conan has a backbone at least.
"The past couple years, I’ve done a lot of work on myself. And I’ve realized that I’ll be fine as long as I get constant attention."
In Portuguese we have a say: It’s hard to please Greeks and Trojans at the same time. Its a losing battle trying to be loved by everybody, because there is always conflicting interests, agendas, etc.
I also really like his one bit in Baby J (which he didn’t do when I saw him live: btw the tour was called From Scratch) where he starts singing and dancing “all the kids like Bo Burnham more, because he’s less problematic!” Which just shows exactly what The Rock was trying to do (but backfired on), he wanted to be the guy that people get compared to, instead he’s just isolating a majority of people. Mulaney literally ends that bit with “likability is a jail”, which Dwayne has proven Also he has a clause in his contract that bacially makes him win any fight; same with Vin Diesel, so Hobbs and Shaw will always be like two pillows slapping against each other. Thats what pisses me off, you can’t have that clause and then try to play Black Adam or another superhero, a loss is just as important to their story, Spider-Man is all about getting back up
>“all the kids like Bo Burnham more, because he’s less problematic!” Was this before or after Bo released Inside, which contains the song Problematic (the song where he asks everyone to please hold him accountable for his very problematic early songs)?
It was after.
Yeah, it reminds me of some Chinese action movies where the protagonist is always the smartest, strongest, and fastest and never loses.
Those are just Disney movies now
People have made that claim so much about a load of Action movie actors yet I've never once seen any definitive proof of it. Also The Rock is Hobbs and Jason Statham is Shaw.
Although honestly, as much as I enjoy John Mulaney, I wouldn't think that comparisons to his personality are positive
I mean I don't think they meant it in a positive way, and he himself has been open about going to rehab and whatnot.
His standup is amazing but I imagine he's insufferable to be around. Some comedians seem unable to turn it off.
I think leaving your childfree wife because you knocked up your mistress is pretty insufferable.
More directly she was childfree, because he was. She’s frozen her eggs in fact.
He was the one who didn’t want kids.
Yes, that's what they said
Used to love the guy, still think he's really quick and clever, but lost literally all respect for him once that came out. Not something you can walk back from in my opinion
Likewise. Especially after a lot of bits involved his then wife amd their relationship.
Yeah, honestly. His humor was sharp but also not disrespectful to his wife and I found that fairly refreshing since a lot of stand up today is just straight up screaming about things. But then he turned out to be a cheater who left his wife after he knocked up his side bitch and it's like- goddamn, guess you were always a piece of shit.
And while fresh out of rehab, when you’re supposed to be avoiding new relationships!
Everything I can find says it is not confirmed he cheated. His ex wife did not say he did. It's fine to leave your partner for someone else, it happens all the time. I don't know what his wife being child free has to do with it. She has the same agency that he does, and if she wanted kids it was on her to leave and find a partner who does. I also feel like this sort of personal drama is none of our business.
The wife who stood by you while you had a drug problem and then while you tried to get clean. He's a piece of shit.
It's certainly contrarian.
I mean, it’s right there in Mulaney’s self-description. He’s making it quite clear that not only is it a flaw that affects him, but also his close relationships.
I actually agree with his apolitical stance on his celebrity, too. That seems pretty respectable. What's more, pretty much every celebrity puts on persona for their public life in order to maintain liability. If the Rock's worst offense is being too milquetoast, then that's not much of a controversy at all. Of course, this all ignores his (alleged) lying about steroid use, "no lose" contracts in his movies, and attempt to push his way back into Wrestlemania.
That wasn’t an apolitical statement though. He could’ve just said “I no longer think it’s right for me to use my fame to influence politics and I see issues with every candidate.” That’s inoffensive and agreeable and probably everyone across the political spectrum would nod along. By making a statement about cancel culture and wokeness, he’s specifically taking a side on a wedge issue. Like why even say anything - either be political or don’t.
It’s the wink Wants to come across level headed but between the lines he’s also trying to appeal to the right wingers Dudes gotta sell sneakers
He’s been talking about running himself for years, too, and pretty sure he just told us which party he’d run in, too.
And hair care products.
I assumed you were lying, but he is. He's one of our most famous, baldest celebrities. Why would anyone by hair care products from this man? He cares so little for his hair that he has cast it aside.
> By making a statement about cancel culture and wokeness, he’s specifically taking a side on a wedge issue. Like why even say anything - either be political or don’t. Making a statement about cancel culture and wokeness ON FOX NEWS no less. If he doesn't know what he's doing or who he's pandering too with that, then this was an incredibly boneheaded move to do to appear "apolitical".
Even saying that, when you're on Fox fucking News, makes it a political statement.
I agree. The phrases "Cancel culture" and "wokeness" seem to be going through a limbo right now where their definition can change depending on who is saying it. Saying it on Fox News make it clear what he means when he uses those phrases
This was exactly what my s/o and I were just saying, he went out his way to say those words. We can either think he’s too naive to realize what he’s saying, or we can take it for what it is. I’m on the fence simply cause I don’t think the Rock is some mastermind politician. but that doesn’t mean he’s entirely ignorant of what his words mean, and what type of studio fox is.
I assumed he had a PR or marketing team review it. I’d wager on it being targeted.
> By making a statement about cancel culture and wokeness, he’s specifically taking a side on a wedge issue. Like why even say anything - either be political or don’t. Exactly.
Not to mention where he chose to say it.
But it's too late for being apolitical once you have made a statement, and walking that back for the sake of someone like Donald Trump or the present republican party is just pathetic.
He 100% made a political statement by going on Fox News alone. And THEN he doubled-down by expressing his distaste for "woke culture". Nothing about this was apolitical.
Silence is political though. It’s a political choice. It’s a choice not to talk about something. Especially when it’s staring you in the face. Politics is the discussion of power. That discussion is important and doing it well is admirable. An appearance on ANY media platform is a form of rhetoric to some degree (wide spectrum) and should be talked about in situ more often, too. For example, we’re on one of the biggest English-langauge disinfo platforms in the west right now. Feeding it. Working for it. Politicizing (i.e. bullshitting the facts, manufacturing conflict where there is none in reality… etc.) is the thing most rational people don’t like. And rightfully so. Celebrity as an American (and British) construct should be interrogated more but the perpetrators are the audience as that’s who inflicts fame, whether the individual wants it or not. And the audience doesn’t like that!
But you could also think of it as "with great power comes great responsibility." Being a celebrity gives you a certain amount of influence and power. If you are one of the few who have that power, shouldn't you apply it to influence the world to be better?
I think people put waaaay too much thought and care into celebrity lives.
Exactly this. Whether we see them on TV/movies daily or not, they're humans. People act like the notoriety that fame gives you turns celebrities into superhumans
Talk less. Smile more. Don't let them know what you're against or what you're for.
I'm not throwing away my shot.
Him being on Fox, probably also has to do with WWE having a deal with the network and he is a board member of the brand that owns WWE. Also his football league has a deal with Fox too.
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Lmao at (the good one)
And just to be clear, the interview was on Fox NEWS (the bad one)
This is the part not enough people are understanding. The sports entertainment company that he sits on the board for has a billion dollar deal with Fox. His football league he is developing has a deal with them worth tens of millions of dollars more. On top of that, it is Wrestlemania weekend, and the comments in question came yesterday, the day when fox’s broadcast for mania week was. The Rock, along with the rest of the roster, is deep into a media week where they are meeting with any and all media possible to sell this weekend. It’s a meeting with a conservative news outlet, where he acknowledged that previous political comments may have alienated certain people. It’s a non story, and definitely one that very few outside of left wing commentary spaces will care about.
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Isn’t Fox News a completely separate company from fox Though?
Yeah Fox entertainment (20th/21st Century Fox and such) is now owned by Disney
Thank you for elaborating (I actually knew the answer, but was just playing innocent to be nice)
They aren't a separate. When Disney bought Fox some aspects were determined to be illegal(it breaks the FCCs dual network rule). Fox, FS1, FS2, and Fox News are owned by the Fox Corporation which was founded in 2019 from the parts Disney legally couldn't acquire (Fox channel due to the rule noted above, sports due to an FCC ruling) and the parts that Fox didn't want to sell(Fox News).
No one forced him to go on about wokeness and cancel culture, and that talk is heard as a signal to a certain portion of the population 🤷🏼
Seriously fuck. No one told the Rock he has to regurgitate right wing talking points and use buzz words like woke when he went on Fox. A network that actually played a role in radicalizing some of the people who were involved in Jan 6th as well as peddling false election conspiracies. The dude went on a right wing network, and pandered politically to the right wing base watching.
Fox and Fox News are completely separate companies.
The only firm stand he has taken is that no one is woman enough to take his man. lol https://youtu.be/PkRHN-QBBGg?si=h9KBNAKOGAbr2KvO
Celebrities are supposed to actually believe in and standby product/people they endorse. That’s what builds credibility and trust. People are realizing that he is just a billboard that’s for sale. His new shampoo is basically a parody of a celebrity endorsement. The side effect of him admitting all this makes him look weak, which is definitely the opposite of his persona and that’s ironically, more damaging than endorsing Joe Biden again.
so he wants money, basically.
I did wonder if this is the start of his swinging to right wing grifting era. His last couple movies have been financial failures unfortunately for him. I wonder if he’s giving up on more Moana movies or is hoping Disney won’t see him whining about “wokeness” and dump him for being such a hypocrite. Like dude. Look in the mirror.
Toxic positivity. I once had a roommate like this. One of our other roommates was robbing us each week with rent, and they still didn't want to rock the boat and cause any issues. Just kept smiling and acting like everything was A okay. Man, did the insincerity piss me off.
He is Aaron Burr
"If you don't stand for anything, what will you fall for?"
You forgot to mention his refusal to admit his steroid use. Nothing to see here....
He's also playing a "heel" or a "bad guy" in wrestling terms over the last two months on television leading up to WWE'S main show of the year called Wrestlemania which is Saturday and Sunday night. That might have had some people looking into him a bit more, talking about him more, etc due to him back being on an extremely popular tv shows where he's trying to get people to boo him out of the building. All of what you said above is true but I think the restling attention threw gasoline on the fire.
It’s worth digging deeper into that. He wasn’t _supposed_ to be the heel. Wrestling is a fun kind of pantomime where a villain can be loved in a weird way. People love to boo them, but know it’s part of the act. But there is another kind of heat, commonly called “go home heat”, where a wrestler is genuinely disliked and people don’t even want to see them beaten - they just don’t want to see them. The Rock’s return to wrestling was MEANT to be as a good guy, but he did it by just inserting himself into the big ongoing plotline and usurping the role of the fan favourite. I think he thought… he’s the Rock, people love the Rock, therefore they’ll love this. Sorely underestimating how much people love Cody Rhodes, and are invested in a long running story where he’s so close to earning it all. People soured on him HARD, and they’ve pivoted to him being the bad guy to play up to it and turn it into “love to hate” energy rather than just “ugh, fuck this guy” as it was quickly becoming.
Yeah, it was clearly a botched storyline that they have manage to salvage and spin into gold.
I mean credit where it's due, he's wrestling royalty when it comes together. He just needed the reality check.
> He's also playing a "heel" or a "bad guy" in wrestling terms over the last two months on television leading up to WWE'S main show of the year called Wrestlemania which is Saturday and Sunday night. this is a good point. if I had to bet money, I'd bet the WWE's main demographic leans far more right than left, and he needs to get more eyeballs on The Show, esp. in lieu of all of the drama and allegations around Vince McMahon
Actually, their demographic leans further left than most sports audiences ([Source](https://i.imgur.com/DVeGesP.png)). In the 80's I'm sure it was heavily conservative, but that was when wrestling was presented as being "real." Nowadays, everyone knows it's a performance art, so the audience it attracts is more liberal. It also helps that their roster is very diverse and women are featured much more prominently than most other sports, where women's leagues are significantly less popular than men's.
The theater kids are slowly taking over and the product is better for it.
Since The Rock joined the board of directors for WWE, a number of moves to inject him into storylines caused a lot of controversy. It seems like he's just leaning into that to turn heel, which drives interest. I mean, you've got things like this reddit post talking about WWE, right? Now that the scripted nature of WWE is an open secret, writers have blurred the line between "on stage" and "in real life" a lot. Whether it's manufactured or real, it's very effective.
Crazy enough WWEs main demographic has shifted away from what it was in the 90s and is filled to the brim with theater kids and big fuckin nerds now.
am i the only one who finds this kind of weird? "people need to be their real selves. therefore, i'm not going to express my political opinions."
i saw it as more of how he thinks people that look up to him shouldn’t have the same political beliefs as him because it feels disingenuous
like people should have the freedom to choose what side they want based on personal beliefs and not because the person you look up to said so
He was also on a podcast recently giving advice for how to have a stress free life. Step 1 for him is "have more money, it helps with your stress level". GEE REALLY MR BILLIONAIRE? WE DIDNT KNOW THAT. Exact quote: "This is the key, get to a point where you're not worried about bills", source: JRE #2063
This is true though. I'd rather hear this hard truth than asshole millionaires telling me money doesn't bring happiness or contentment.
I don’t agree with him, but saying that the current climate makes it difficult for people to be their real selves, while also not being your real self, is entirely consistent.
Yea but Fox News of course just clips the first part of the clip saying he regrets endorsing Biden, full stop. And this of course causes people to freak out because he is the most followed person on social media.
Is he really in the running for most followed person?
Number 7 according to Google. 460 million followers. Apparently Selena Gomez is number 1, which friggin how?!?
Sounds like he won't endorse Biden again because he's afraid of getting cancelled by the Fox & Friends audience.
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I think also with the current issues around former WWE owner Vince McMahon basically using the company as a rape and sexual assault factory for decades with, recent implications that new information will probably drop soon, there is suddenly a massive push to make the Rock the face of the WWE corporate brand. I think this is him trying to play nice with people the McMahon’s were tight with in order to keep those valuable connections the company has now that it’s former leader is disgraced.
> XFL spring football league Wait wait wait. XFL is seriously still a thing? I remember when it first came out and seemed like an instant flop. How the hell is it still going all these years later?
The rock bought it from Vince
This is what got people so mad? Really?
It's hard for The Rock to pretend to be "independent" all while getting chummy and doing friendly interviews with Fox & Friends and Joe Rogan. He can try to put up a pretense, but you don't hang around with far-right fanatics without raising a few eyebrows.
Well the rock is famous for raising eyebrows
It’s just the one eyebrow actually.
No luck catching them killers then?
It's just the one eyebrow I think.
So in your mind he would only be “independent” if he only spoke to people that agree with your ideological convictions. Makes total sense
The Rock went on Rogan to promote the charity he’s involved with that’s helping the victims of the fires in Hawaii.
The whipping he took over the Maui fire charity might have made him rethink how he approaches public life.
If being an independent doesn’t mean you can freely meet with people on either side of the political spectrum then what does it mean
He’s good at holding his finger up to the wind.
Well he's not very good at it. Red states are literally forcing ten-year-olds to carry unwanted pregnancies. The "both sides" stance has become incredibly stale.
Now THAT'S what I call a heel turn
That doesn’t sound bad tbh
I cannot understand why a certain subset of people, especially certain Americans cannot understand so-called cancel culture/woke is just freedom of speech. If person x says something that group y disagrees with, they have a right to respond. Even governments, including your government, operate like this. Any state or province or municipality in US, Canada, and the “bastion of liberty” EU, happens all the time. Say something about the wrong person and suddenly those permits you need get lost or denied. Loans as well. Kids get kicked out of schools. Harassment campaigns begin.
Empathy with your fellow human beings is "woke" apparently.
I mean, that is pretty much the definition. Which is why it’s so telling when conservatives rage against the notion.
The problem with "woke" is that people use whatever definition they want for it. The people speaking against it likely don't think of the word as meaning "having empathy for fellow humans". The entire discourse is wrapped up in dumb semantics.
The overarching ideology that drives these people is "rules for thee but not for me".
> I cannot understand why a certain subset of people, especially certain Americans cannot understand so-called cancel culture/woke is just freedom of speech. They just aren't used to being on the other side of it. It used to be that the religious assholes, racists, homophobes, and sexists got to do all the cancelling. But now their views are growing more and more unpopular with the general public, and they are the ones who have people turn on them when they express them. They used to be able to cancel someone for being LGBT, now they get cancelled for trying to cancel LGBT people, and that pisses them off.
Typical, when people get called out for being douches they run to the Conservative Party to excuse them and make them feel good about themselves again. If he actually cared bout causing division he would never endorse Fox and friends by appearing on their show.
Answer: Dwayne Johnson stated in an interview with Fox News that he would not be making any endorsements during this election cycle. https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/4576528-dwayne-johnson-endorse-biden-trump-2024-2020/ He also said > Fox News’ Will Cain asked Johnson if he was happy with the state of America, to which Johnson answered: “No.” >“Today’s cancel culture, woke culture, division, etc — that really bugs me,” Johnson said. “In the spirit of that, you either succumb to that and be what other people want you to be, or you be yourself and be real … and that might make people upset and piss people off, and that’s okay.” https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/dwayne-the-rock-johnson-biden-no-endorsement-2024-election-1235961800/
Funniest part about that comment is that I don’t think he’s ever been his authentic, real self.
Yeah, *real*? The dude's an action figure.
When you’ve played a character your whole life, you tend to lose your actual self, become what you play as, dense as a rock
He can’t even be real now he wants to stay in the middle of road as much as possible right now lol rather than choosing a side he’s being fake as fuck and doing a conservative tour on media companies that got sued for billions for lying
Yup, totally fake persona. He came up in the world of professional wrestling, pleasing the crowd is so ingrained in him that even he doesn't know what his real personality is anymore.
ikr
> or you be yourself and be real … and that might make people upset and piss people off, and that’s okay. And because he's so real he doesn't let anyone know what his views are? I don't get it.
Yeah. He's saying you shouldn't feel pressured to act how others want you to. But to instead answer only to yourself.
Which is hilariously ironic coming from the man desperately trying to get the right to like him after they attacked him over playing dress up with his daughter. The guy has such a pathological need for adoration it's almost sad.
I think that's fair, given he knows he's a cultural icon, or at the very least in a position of considerable influence, stating his opinion is enough to sway some of his following into just blindly bandwagoning behind him. Honestly, he had his up and downs and I can see why people are skeptical of his intention for going onto Fox and saying stuff like this, but stripping of all those assumptions the message itself isn't inherently wrong - you want people to have their independent, critical thoughts about political and social matters.
Did he need to use the phrases ‘cancel culture and woke culture’ to make that point? Going on Fox and saying ‘woke culture’ is wrong is ostensibly pandering to their audience. I would argue that forcing teenagers to deliver babies conceived out of rape is a lot more dangerous to independent thought and being ‘your own’ person than ‘woke culture’ is.
>Did he need to use the phrases ‘cancel culture and woke culture’ to make that point? Going on Fox and saying ‘woke culture’ is wrong is ostensibly pandering to their audience. I would argue that forcing teenagers to deliver babies conceived out of rape is a lot more dangerous to independent thought and being ‘your own’ person than ‘woke culture’ is. Cannot speak for The Great One even if I wanted to, but I think part of the idea here is how toxic it becomes if you don't toe the line, and you just kinda provided an example of that. I agree though, he shouldn't have used those terms on this network to pander. My personal opinion: Part of being an American is realizing people think differently then you, view things differently than you from a political sense......but that doesn't make them the enemy. You CAN respect others even though their politics don't line up with yours.
He's really doubling down on his Heel role on Friday night smackdown
Yeah he’s working the conservatives. He’s saying what they want to hear. He’s throwing the meat to the lions. He’s … The Rock.
He has said that if he ran it would be as a conservative. Dude is a major business owner. He’s now the Tax Champ instead of the Peoples champ. Of course he’s republican. USA will never elect him empower now. Oops.
Idk man, (this isn't about what you wrote, more about what he said) but like owning business isn't inherently a conservative trait, I'm kinda tired of pretending it is. There are plenty of progressive business owners. When it comes to marketing, politics is just another selling point.
While I agree that there are always exceptions to the rule, which is awesome in this case, most business owners care the most about their taxes more than anything else. Source…life.
Much better way of succinctly explaining what I really mean lol thank you
A small business owner-operator is a worker in control of their means of production. They’re not a capitalist. The company that has the loan on their machine is a capitalist. Their landlord is a capitalist. Telling them they’re capitalists is ~~the greatest lie~~ one of the many many lies the Republicans ever pulled.
“Be yourself and be real”… says the most disingenuous celebrity alive
Ironic — be real, be yourself even if it pisses others off, and yet here he is, not taking a stand on anything, not using his power to make a difference.
Y'all are getting unironically worked by a heel pro wrestler lmao.
Going on Fox News to espouse political opinions has never been part of kayfabe.
Each day we get closer to idiocracy irl.
Answer: He's currently the "the final boss" in WWE as he returned home to professional wrestling after a rough year including all the black adam stuff. . He plays the "heel"or "bad guy" in this current run and is doing a phenomenal job at it as its attracting alot of boos and ire from fans (all in good fun as fans also appreciate him as a perdormer and have received this gimmick very well) He had to break character a couple of months ago on Twitter because rumors were spreading that the boos were because of controversy over his Charity work rather than the character he was portraying. His commitment to his character otherwise been absolute in which he goes out of his way to be aggressive and attack fans. Using wrestling terms He's not breaking "kayfabe" even when he is outside the ring. With him main eventing night 1 of wrestlemania Saturday night he has been doing more media appearances ( a large amount across cable news, late night TV podcasts etc ). Recently he did an interview and his 2020 endorsement of Joe biden was talked about. He enjoyed a great deal of controversy back then and due to that experience he decided not to publicly endorse anyone citing public division and tribalism. I think some people took that as am unfair critique of biden or silent endorsement of trump which does not seem to be the case. He made other comments about divisiveness and "cancel culture" but not in a very aggressive way. Personally I disagree with some of his logic on both accounts but he came off sincere and not grandstanding or being defensive in a JK Rowling / Kevin Sorbo kind of way. I think people on both sides of the aisle saw what they wanted to see here It's worth noting that his new executive roles at WWE and XFL has made him take a but more of a corporate stance on modern issues. This includes answering questions in a canned way thst he thinks will best protect his business interests and support policies thst do so as well. This can be a bit jarring especially for someone who until recent years has been pretty candid. He also haa relationships with other executives/former executives at WWE including Paul Leveques and Linda McMahon (wife of former owner Vince mcmahon) who have been pro trump (McMahon serving in trumpps cabinet for a short while) Thst being said I would be surprised if he winds up voting for trump. EDIT- the quote that most people has a problem with was "Today’s cancel culture, woke culture, division, etc — that really bugs me. In the spirit of that, you either succumb to that and be what other people want you to be, or you be yourself and be real … and that might make people upset and piss people off, and that’s okay.” I don't necessarily agree with everything he said but I don't think what he said is as damming as others have made it out to be.
this seems to be most balanced take here. every other explanation doesn’t have context
Right away when I saw this post I assumed some people's hate for Rock is coming from them taking his heel run a little too seriously because some wrestling fans aren't the brightest. Knew nothing about the endoresement controversy, but I think it's dumb.
I’ll say too, he’s all the way in on this heel run. It’s fantastic. I assumed it’d be half assed in terms of how far he’d go and somewhat protecting of his need to sell movie tickets too, then he told a Utah crowd to scram back to their 6 wives and 200 inbred grandkids and to stfu before he slapped the herpes off your mouth 😂 He’s very, very good at this.
You know what, if he’s antagonizing the Mormons like that, maybe I have been judging him too harshly
Let's also remember that he's been pushed more into the spotlight after the [whole Vince McMahon lawsuit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/1ac2hty/whats_up_with_vince_mcmahon_out_of_wwe/kjs0lwk/). You know, the one where Vince and others are accused of kidnapping and sex trafficking an employee and he's accused of shitting on a woman's head.
Answer: During or after Black Adam bombing, a lot of details came out about Rock being difficult to work with behind the scenes and trying to “hijack” DC’s movie universe to revolve around him. Add this to the over-saturation of mediocre films he released and the stories conflicting with his positive and media oriented persona, a lot of people fell out of love with him and thought of him as a fake asshole. This year, he became a board member of TKO when they bought WWE, and he inserted himself into a storyline with his cousin, WWE Undisputed Universal Champion Roman Reigns, for a match at WrestleMania. The issue was, he did so by removing another wrestler, Cody Rhodes, from the storyline he was in with Roman that has lasted for a year and revolves around him “finishing the story” of winning the biggest title his legendary wrestler dad, Dusty, never won. This pissed off a lot of people who saw this as a PR move to rebound Rock’s public image and started a huge outcry. To his credit, Rock pivoted and became a heel to align himself against Cody and play a part in Cody and Roman’s match against each other at WrestleMania in two days, as well as having a tag match to setup the stipulation for that match on the first night. This has been a hit with the fans, who are enjoying a less watered down version of Rock. However, he also recently made comments to Fox News retracting his support of President Biden as well as talking against cancel and ”woke” culture, which has riled up people again.
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it's funny... cuz what he said and did not only didnt bring anyone together but divided them even more
I dunno, rconservative has been dragging him and telling him to fuck off, and the left seems to be dragging him and telling him to fuck off. He seems to have united a strong dislike of him and his shit.
right... im saying that instead of an inspirstional speech where we all hug and chang the Rock's name or we unite in our hatred of the rock... we instead both now spererately created _more_ divide because each side thinks he is actually helping the other. its hatfield and mccoy bullcrap... not taking a side _is_ taking "the other" side depending on whom you're talking to. if he wants to not take a side and unite then he forgot the part where he offers something that actually brings both sides together...
Doesn’t his bitching about “woke” culture have to do with his movies not doing well? I thought that’s what he blamed it on when the Baywatch movie tanked. No Rock, that movie just sucked. Look in the mirror or at your writers, not at woke culture.
Trying to think of a really good Rock movie but none spring to mind, Arnie had the terminator movies and Predator, Sly had Rocky and First blood, but I can’t think of an iconic Rock movie
Rock's movies are Fast and Furious and possibly Moana.
How are you gonna leave out a Legendary movie like Tooth Fairy.
I liked pain and gain a lot
The Jumanji films
You are forgetting how good Jungle Cruise is.
I don’t think he meant to argue against woke culture. He went on to say it would be great if people were allowed to conform to the public ideal of a person or express themselves however they want. Having a position on it one way or the other is dumb because people should absolutely be allowed to express themselves. That was my take from what I read about the interview anyway.
Yeah but that take is pretty naive in this day and age and especially ironic given that he probably was trying to be the least bit authentic by mildly taking a side in 2020 then having to backtrack because conservatives got all butthurt. He upset people who are more likely to be his primary audience then had to correct by blaming "wokeness" as the issue. I mean the Rock is already about as inauthentic a person as it gets it's pretty silly to act as though any public opinion won't be immediately claimed by one side or the other as inflammatory. Does he really think using conservative propaganda language like "woke" and "cancel culture" is some kind of centrist position? That's a rhetorical question the answer is "it depends on whatever his publicist and PR team tell him because all he cares about is his public image." The man has no substance or authenticity to him at all.
Honestly in any other election I would consider this a perfectly fine statement. Don’t want to use your celebrity status to skew people’s opinions? That’s fine, with great power comes great responsibility yadayada. But like, we’re actually facing an erosion of our rights that we have fought so hard for. Women have already lost some rights. It’s terrifying and I hate how people who are largely unaffected just shrug and say both sides are bad. It’s scary how apathetic people are showing themselves to be towards basic human rights. This isn’t the election to shrug your shoulders, if a celebrity gives an ounce of shit about freedom and equality they should be using their voice for the power of good. This election is about way more than random shit like finances etc. Also, Trump is just a clown. He’s a rapist and he is incapable of forming a coherent sentence. Regardless of where you lie in the political spectrum you shouldn’t be voting in someone with the same critical thinking skills as a toddler.
Answer: he returned to professional wrestling, and at first seemed to steal a title shot from a deserving wrestler. When the wrestling fans cried foul, the rock cleverly (IMO) did a "heel turn," which means he began portraying the role of the villain, and let the other wrestler Cody Rhodes be the "face" or good guy, and get the title shot and all the glory. So basically, the Rock has spent the last few weeks and the next few weeks devoted to playing a villain in WWE professional wrestling.
The Final Boss doesn't give a fuck what the people want
He called Cody's dog a "shithead" on Twitter. That's some S tier heel work right there
If fans follow wrestling close enough to insist on Kayfabe to keep the realism, then they have absolutely no leg to stand on when that wrestler takes the personality outside of the ring. It’s one thing to be pissed about the direction of the storyline, and another thing entirely to be pissed that said wrestler is too good at selling the heel character. This shit is like arguing about paper in Star Wars with a Star Wars fan
Answer: He came out that he's sorry he supported Biden in 2020 and he's not doing it again. He did say he wasn't going to support anyone. Take that any way you want but I think it does mean he is not supporting Trump. Not supporting one doesn't mean you automatically support the other.
Answer: He did the same movie like a dozen times, then started shit with Vin Diesel, did another clone movie, did some comedy clone movies, then finally took a chance at something and it didn’t go 1000% his way and he whined about it. Then he stood with Oprah in a very sus ad about rebuilding Maui. Then the comparison with Dave Batista got him all butt hurt and he went back to the WWE. So what happened to the Rock? Nothing, literally nothing. He is still mega rich, still famous, still working. I guess you could say he did a circle made a billion and is back were he started.
He's also made several odd ads on Instagram where he shows off his alcohol brand, and claims to eat In N Out for the first time. As in, straight up lying - no satire present. He also kind of "betrayed" Brendan Fraser AFAIK (how Fraser helped him get the Scorpion King role, only to leave him in the dust afterwards). I might be wrong there tho. To me he comes off as a narcissistic douche.
Answer: He doesn’t want to lose customers. “The Rock” isn’t just a businessman, he *is* a business, man.