Amanda Seyfried is right, she wasn’t wrong about Charlie Kirk
Amanda Seyfried is known for a lot of things. Her scene-stealing performance in Mean Girls. Her status as a beacon for the next generation of ABBA fans. And now, she is making headlines for remaining honest, even in light of a recent controversy.
In a recent interview with Who What Wear to promote her films The Housemaid and The Testament of Ann Lee, Seyfried was asked about a controversy she endured on Instagram this past September, following the shooting death of Internet pundit Charlie Kirk. At the time, Seyfried commented on Instagram that Kirk was “hateful”, later elaborating on the platform that: “I don’t want to add fuel to a fire. I just want to be able to give clarity to something so irresponsibly (but understandably) taken out of context. Spirited discourse – isn’t that what we should be having?”
“I’m not f*cking apologizing for that,” Seyfried explained in the most recent interview. “I mean, for f*ck’s sake, I commented on one thing. I said something that was based on actual reality and actual footage and actual quotes. What I said was pretty damn factual, and I’m free to have an opinion, of course. Thank God for Instagram. I was able to give some clarity, and it was about getting my voice back because I felt like it had been stolen and recontextualized—which is what people do, of course.”
This isn’t the first time that Seyfried has addressed her comments, previously arguing that she has the freedom to be offended by Kirk’s racist and otherwise hateful rhetoric, while also feeling like the nature of his death “disturbing and deplorable.” And honestly… she’s right.
Kirk’s death created a slew of complicated feelings in a lot of people: the continued frustration over modern gun violence, the worry for what it could mean in the political sphere, and the mixed emotions over his history of very public controversial and hateful actions. Seyfried is far from the only person to express those kinds of feelings (and, in the grand scheme of things, what she said is relatively tame compared to some famous people), but it was still easy for people to target her for saying anything at all because she is a well-known actress. At the end of the day, it’s admirable that she not only made the comments, but has continued to stand by them.
(featured image: Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)
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