Hollywood legend, Clint Eastwood is still living in the early 1900s…mentally that is.
In an interview with Esquire, the famed actor/director/producer came to bat and defend Donald Trump’s explicit racism. As if solely backing Trump wasn’t enough, Eastwood made a comment about how the concept of racism didn’t exist when he grew up.
“Everybody’s walking on eggshells. We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren’t called racist,” Eastwood said.
Clint Eastwood was born in 1930.
He was an adult years before the Civil Rights movement began.
Sarah McBride, National Press Secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, wasn’t here for Eastwood’s “racism isn’t a thing” logic. McBride, also the first-ever transgender person to address a national convention, proceeded to unearth a list of things that weren’t considered racist when Clint Eastwood was growing up, exposing the illegitimacy of his argument.
Clint Eastwood was born in 1930. Let’s start a list of things that weren’t considered racist when he was growing up. pic.twitter.com/xuySp45dZv
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
And so, the list began:
1) Jim Crow
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
2) a segregated military
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
3) dismissing the concept of a black president
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
4) poll taxes
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
5) opposition to federal anti-lynching laws.
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
6) using racist words and descriptions
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
7) membership in the Klan
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
8) forbidding people of color from entire professions
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
9) Housing discrimination
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
10) forbidding black people from talking to white people
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
11) anti-miscegenation laws
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
12) Jim Crow again
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
13) literally the entire experience of being black in America in the 1930s
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) August 4, 2016
Wait, there’s more. The rest of Twitter participated in the dragging of Clint Eastwood and it was beautiful.
*Clint Eastwood goes to bed; has erotic dream about segregated lunch counters*
— Kashana (@kashanacauley) August 4, 2016
I’m not sure Clint Eastwood, somebody who grew up when schools were still racially segregated, should be playing the “back in my day” card.
— Angry Salmond (@AngrySalmond) August 4, 2016
Clint Eastwood continued. “When I grew up, those things weren’t called racist”.
Clint is 86. When he grew up schools were still segregated
— Jesse LaGreca (@JesseLaGreca) August 4, 2016
Let’s take a moment to appreciate McBride’s well-executed scholarly drag.
Having lived in the era of pre-Civil Rights Movement doesn’t give anyone an excuse to stay there. How Clint Eastwood has managed to live under a rock all of this time, is a mystery. And if he’s seen McBride’s tweets, maybe he’s just now seeing the light.
Welcome to the cookout, Sarah!
