Actor Jim Carrey, a perennial, often obscene critic of the Trump White House, came under fire this week for a somewhat sexual remark he allegedly made to a female journalist while promoting his latest film “Sonic the Hedgehog.”
Speaking with Charlotte Long of Heat Magazine, Carrey was asked what he still had left to do on his bucket list, prompting a rather untoward reply.
“In the film, Sonic has a bucket list, I was wondering, after all you’ve done in your career and in your life, is there anything still left on your bucket list?” asked Long.
“Just you,” responded Carrey. “That’s it, it’s all done now.”
“I don’t know what to say to that,” Long said through her laughter.
“Just own it,” Carrey shot back.
Though Jim Carrey has become something of a hero on social media due to his crude political paintings, this particular incident did not win him any new friends among the progressive elite. Writing at Jezebel, Joan Summers lamented that Carrey’s “creepy” remark highlights the “torrential downpour of abuse, sexism, creepiness, and body-breaking exhaustion” that women journalists often face.
“Women who pursue journalism as a mostly unviable career venture must first have their heads cracked open and brains replaced by a few dozen robotically controlled mice, because it’s really the only way we can possibly justify the torrential downpour of abuse, sexism, creepiness, and body-breaking exhaustion that accompanies the job,” wrote Summers. “While the complexities of a journalist’s job may not be obvious in the way that, say, inventing a machine that will keep your coffee warm when you forget it in a microwave may be, we do frequently sit through junket interviews for things like Sonic the f***ing Hedgehog, navigating how best to deal with getting leered at by Jim Carrey. I’d argue our job is harder!”
“I assure you that whatever Charlotte Long is being paid, it’s not enough to sit through junket interviews where vastly more powerful actors with questionable career choices and not-so-great painting skills talk down to her,” she later added.
A representative for Jim Carrey disputed the interpretation of the interview, arguing that Carrey’s comments were taken out of context.
“This is a ridiculous non-story. Jim’s full quote was ‘Just you! That’s it, I’m all done now!’ clearly and good-naturedly referring to the interview as being on the top of his bucket list,” Carrey’s rep told Jezebel. “It was in no way a reference to the journalist herself. This is another example of a clickbait headline pandering to the dark side of ‘scroll culture’ — a dirty business done by and for people with dirty minds.”
Charlotte Long has since locked her Twitter account in the wake of Carrey’s interview going viral.
Jim Carrey’s box office potential has taken a major hit in recent years. His last outing, “Dark Crimes,” got a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and went straight to video. He has since been spending his free time creating mean-spirited political cartoons about conservatives, such as this grotesque one, which shows Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey being aborted in the womb.
“Sonic the Hedgehog,” which opens this weekend, has a 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is currently tracking for the number one box office slot on Friday.