This Independence Day weekend most Americans will be celebrating the freedoms and values that made this country so great. However, there are some in the Hollywood Left who would probably prefer to be partying, anywhere other than the USA.
For a class of people who owe their wealth and fame to the American way of life, it’s sad to see so many celebrities turning their back on their own country.
Over the years, the Media Research Center has caught celebrities attacking American symbols, traditions and blaming it for the world’s problems. The following is a countdown of the Hollywood Elite’s 13 Worst Anti-American Outbursts (as culled from the MRC’s archives):
13. Harvey Weinstein: America Is “Embarrassing”
“This is the only country in the world where we don’t have health care. Countries embarrass us around the world. And this is the only country in the world where we don’t have a gun law. I watched you, you know, talk about that. You know, quite frankly, it’s embarrassing. Obama is not embarrassing. The country is embarrassing.”
— Movie producer Harvey Weinstein on CNN’s Piers Morgan Live, November 15, 2013.
12. If Americans Were Actually “Good,” They’d Drive Smaller Cars and Not Kill Iraqis for Oil
Larry King: “We [Americans] try to do good, don’t we? I mean, we’re basically good.”
Bill Maher: “No. Not for the rest of the world....Iraqis, I think, feel that if we drove smaller cars, maybe we wouldn’t have to kill them for their oil.”
— Exchange on CNN’s Larry King Live, November 1, 2002.
11. Madonna Ponders Blowing Up the White House
“Yes, I am angry. Yes, I am outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House. But I know that this won’t change anything.”
— Singer Madonna at the Women’s March as aired on C-SPAN, January 21, 2017.
10. America Already “Worst Abusers,” But “Twisted” Trump Has Made Us Worse
“We are already among the worst abusers of Human Rights on this earth. And we are inches away from being investigated by The Hague for our newly formed Fascist ways. All ths in the 510 days of his twisted regime.”
— June 18, 2018 tweet by actor Ron Perlman.
9. American Flag Represents Racism and “Genocide”
“It’s the same flag that flew over slavery and the genocide of the Native American population, the napalming of the Vietnamese children, the destruction of Afghanistan’s civilian hospitals and it’s on the uniform of every police officer who’s killed an innocent African-American person. It’s also a flag that’s in the courtroom of every judge who’s let those cops go free.”
— Musician Tom Morello on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, September 29, 2017.
8. Time to Replace Old Glory
“The Confederate battle flag, which was crafted as a symbol of opposition to the abolishment of slavery, is just recently tired. We don’t see it much anymore. However, on [January] 6th, when the stormers rained on the nation’s most precious hut, waving Old Glory — the memo was received: the American flag is its replacement….Like the Confederate, it is tattered, dated, divisive, and incorrect. It no longer represents democracy and freedom. It no longer represents ALL of us. It’s not fair to be forced to honor it.”
— Singer Macy Gray in a June 17, 2021 column for MarketWatch.
7. National Anthem Is “Tough to Take”
Co-host Sara Haines: “To Representative Crenshaw, who says, you know, this is the basic thing of an Olympian, to represent the country, Gwen Berry is representing the country. She’s questioning an American anthem that maybe doesn’t represent all people in the country.”
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg: “In the upcoming days, we’ll play you the American anthem and let you see what you think of it. Because there’s some stuff in there that makes it a little bit tough to take.”
— Discussion about Olympian Gwen Barry protesting the National Anthem, ABC’s The View, June 29, 2021.
6. National Anthem is a Scam “To Get Boys and Girls to Go Kill People”
“We’re North Korea and we need to stand at a pledge of allegiance as war machines fly overhead for military recruiting videos….This anthem thing is a scam. This is not actually part of football. This was invented in 2009 from the government paying the NFL to market military recruitment, to get more people to go off and fight wars to die. This has nothing to do with NFL or the American pastime or tradition. This is to get boys and girls to go fly overseas and go kill people.”
— Actor Jesse Williams on MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts, September 24, 2017.
5. The United States of AmeriKKKa
“The so-called American cradle of democracy, that’s bullshit. The United States of America was built on the genocide of native people and slavery. That is the fabric of the United States of America. As my Brooklyn brother Jay-Z would say, facts.”
— Film director Spike Lee discussing his new film BlacKkKlansman at the Cannes Film Festival, May 14, 2018 as reported by Vulture.
4. Singer’s Anti-American Remix of the National Anthem
“Oh say can you see by the blood in the streets / That this place doesn’t smile on you colored child / Whose blood built this land with sweat and their hands / But we’ll die in this place and your memory erased / Oh say, does this truth hold any weight / This is not the land of the free, but the home of the slaves!”
— Singer Jill Scott re-writing the lyrics to the National Anthem when she performed it at the Essence Festival, June 30, 2023.
Everyone please rise for the only National Anthem we will be recognizing from this day forward.
— ESSENCE (@Essence) July 5, 2023
Jill Scott, we thank you! #ESSENCEFest pic.twitter.com/WrYrP1nhTc
3. No More Pretending to “Support the Troops”
“Stop saying, ‘I support the troops.’ I don’t. I used to....But at some point all individuals must answer for their actions, and now that we know our military leaders do things that have nothing to do with defending our lives, why would anyone sign up for this rogue organization?”
— Leftwing filmmaker Michael Moore announcing his New Year’s resolutions in a December 31, 2012 article published by the Huffington Post.
2. Americans Are the Real “Terrorists”
“I just want to say something: 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists?...If you were in Iraq, and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us?”
— Co-host Rosie O’Donnell on ABC’s The View, May 17, 2007.
1. “We Have Been the Cowards”
“We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away, that’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, not cowardly.”
— Bill Maher on ABC’s Politically Incorrect, September 17, 2001.