OPINION:
There’s a wonderfully endearing story about a young Jim Carrey, long before he was a big Hollywood star. In his childhood when his father lost his job, he lived in a camper van and worked as a janitor at his school — starting his shift right after he finished classes.
Carrey, who began doing stand-up comedy at age 15, dropped out of school at 19 and moved to Hollywood in search of stardom. In his mid-20s, as encouragement, Carrey wrote himself a check for $10 million for “acting services rendered,” postdated it 10 years and kept it in his wallet.
Seven years later, he got a $10 million check to star in “Dumb and Dumber.”
But oh, what a difference those millions have made. Carrey is now routinely odd. He believes the MMR vaccine causes autism, his ex-girlfriend killed herself (her parents sued him for providing the drugs she used), and he’s into a whole new-age Zen thing. (“There is no me. There is just things happening.”)
Carrey has also gotten political. He’s vehemently against guns — even though he’s starred in several movies with lots of gun violence — and has repeatedly blasted the National Rifle Association.
Last month, the actor sent a message to the world about the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 dead. On Feb. 25, he posted on Twitter a painting that showed a young bloody victim, lying in a pool of blood by some schoolbooks. The blood looks like the red stripes of the American flag, and Carrey titled the post “Oh say, can’t you see?!”
Some of his 18 million followers liked the piece. “This is so powerful. Your art speaks a million words,” wrote one user. “This is just as brutal as the truth is, awesome work,” said another.
But others didn’t see it that way. Wrote one Twitter user: “How many armed guards keep watch over you? I’m just curious. Because everyone says all the Hollywood actors are pushing to disarm the American citizens but they keep armed guards. You’re definitely not one of them, are you?”
The next day, Carrey, in his weird way, promised to disappear. He put another post on Twitter that read, “fading into the everything for awhile. See ya soon.”
But he wasn’t gone long (or not long enough, which is forever). On Saturday, when normal people were heading out for a pint of Guinness, Carrey — who now, apparently, thinks he’s an artist or, in his case, an artiste — took to Twitter again. He posted an amateurish painting of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, her eyebrows arched, her eyes angry, her mouth in a snarl. His caption read: “This is the portrait of a so-called Christian whose only purpose in life is to lie for the wicked. Monstrous!”
Even The Associated Press had a pause. “Some Twitter users accused Carrey of shaming because of the unflattering portrait. Others were critical of his use of Christian.”
And this time, there was even more fallout on social media. “You have lost half of your fans. You are such self-righteous hypocrite. Would you post somethings like this of any of your female actor friends?” one Twitter user wrote.
Some got personal — and brutal. “Nothing worse than an entertainer trying to be political. Then again its been over 20 years since you were entertaining. So sad,” wrote one. “Un-hinged bullying by the left, Democrats, while telling kids bullying is a bad thing … the adults are acting like the mean children, do as I say, not as I do ?? Hypocrisy at it’s finest, Jim probably doesn’t know how funny this really is …,” wrote another.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Mrs. Sanders’ father, jumped into the fray. “Pathetic BULLY, sexist, hater, bigot & ’Christaphobe’ @jimcarrey attacks @PressSec for her faith; what would be hypocritical Hollywood reaction if he called someone a ’so-called Muslim’ or ’so-called Jew?’ #classlessCarrey,” he wrote on Twitter.
And, of course, he’s right. The hypocrisy of elite limousine liberals knows no bounds. Many have armed security bodyguards with them at all times, but they’re incensed that “regular” people want to protect themselves with guns, too. They’ll preach tolerance — in fact, demand it from conservatives, like Christian bakers who don’t want to make a cake for a gay wedding — but they rage with intolerance whenever anyone dares think differently from them.
We can only hope that Carrey will, one day, really fade away “into the everything.”
⦁ Joseph Curl has covered politics for 25 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent at The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on Twitter @josephcurl.
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