Clint Eastwood has never been afraid to #TellItLikeItIs. The director infamously talked to a chair at the Republican National Convention to let Barack Obama know how he really felt, and last spring, the filmmaker lamented that the ’70s were the “beginning of the era that we’re in now with political correctness.” Yep, Clint thinks that social progress has caused a horrific crime, namely, that “we’ve lost our sense of humor.”
With his latest film the “15:17 To Paris” opening this week, Eastwood is back doing press rounds, and he’s got more to say about snowflakes. Speaking with HeyUGuys (via Joe), the director wishes we could all just get back to joshing each other with racist or sexist jokes, because can’t we all just have a good time?
“I’m never cautious about what I say because, you know, I’ve been around a long time, what can they do? The political correctness era that we’re in is really not doing anyone any good. It’s taking everyone and weakening society. It doesn’t seem that people have to take themselves so serious,” Eastwood said. “It seems like, I’m just lucky that I grew up in an era where we all lived in an area where everybody joked about everything. Nothing was politically incorrect because everything was always a joke with a sense of humour. People sometimes are losing that and taking themselves and everyone else seriously. I think they’re missing a lot and not enjoying the differences that we all have.”
I haven’t had enough caffeine yet to really take this apart with the incisive clarity it deserves, but it’s very easy for someone who hasn’t faced systemic prejudice to lament the days when he could just laugh off anyone’s gripes with an offensive joke.