Actor Scott Baio says Hollywood critics of President Trump would blame the man for putting oncologists out of business if he cured cancer.
The Hollywood Reporter recently met with over 50 members of Hollywood’s closeted conservatives group, Friends of Abe, to gauge their support for Mr. Trump after recent violence in Charlottesville. Most of them declined to publicly comment out of fears of professional retribution, but longtime Trump supporter Mr. Baio of “Happy Days” fame did not hesitate to speak.
“I don’t give a s—- about Hollywood liberals,” he told The Hollywood Reporter for a piece published Wednesday. “They’re gonna hate the guy no matter what. If he cured cancer, they’d be on him for putting oncologists out of business.”
Mr. Baio has been a staunch supporter of the president in an industry where right-leaning talent typically keeps mum on their political views. He also spoke at the Republican National Convention in July 2016 in support of Mr. Trump’s campaign.
“All this [racial Charlottesville coverage] does is help Trump because people have had it. Conservatives in Hollywood have had it,” Mr. Baio added. “We know who Trump is, and we don’t believe the propaganda, and I don’t think most of the country does, either. The media is almost irrelevant. It’s predictable and boring. I want the man to get his agenda through, and everything else is a sideshow.”
Many actors told THR that openly discussing Mr. Trump was “too hot” at the moment, or included “no upside.”
“Are you trying to get me killed?” an unidentified actor asked the magazine. “I’m staying away from politics for the foreseeable future.”
Actress Mell Flynn said that conservative friends refuse to speak out in defense of Mr. Trump because their livelihood would be threatened.
“They fear that they will never work again,” she said. “There’s a lot of truth to that. One producer told me Trump was right to call out the leftists who attacked the white supremacists since the latter had a permit and the former did not, but if he says this out loud, he’d never work again.”
Mr. Baio said that lost acting work no longer worries him.
“My country comes first,” he said. “I guess I’m just an old, angry, successful white guy who stole everything he has from someone else.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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