Jim Carrey condemns Kick-Ass 2 for its violence
Jim Carrey took to Twitter over the weekend to denounce Kick-Ass 2 for its violence, specifically because of the tragic events of the Sandy Hook shooting last December. Although Jim Carrey is an advocate for gun control in America, his decision to publicly apologise for his role in Kick-Ass 2 still comes as something of a shock. Mark Millar, the creator of Kick-Ass, has subsequently destroyed Jim Carrey’s ill-advised comments.
Here’s what Jim Carrey had to say:
I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to e
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 23, 2013
I meant to say my apologies to others involve with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 23, 2013
The implication from Jim Carrey’s comments is that violence in the media somehow contributed to the Sandy Hook shooting. This is a rather contentious point, as no evidence has ever linked fictional violence in either movies or computer games to violent crime. Further more, over the last 40 years, crime rates in America of all types have been steadily decreasing.
Another case Jim Carrey might be making here is that the gun use in Kick-Ass 2 is somehow normalising and encouraging gun culture in America, at a time in which Jim Carrey’s personal political views conflict with this. He might have a point, but it’s strange that Jim Carrey adopted this position when Kick-Ass 2 is only a month away from international release.
As Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar responded:
“I’m baffled by this sudden announcement as nothing seen in this picture wasn’t in the screenplay eighteen months ago. Yes, the body-count is very high, but a movie called Kick-Ass 2 really has to do what it says on the tin. A sequel to the picture that gave us HIT-GIRL was always going to have some blood on the floor and this should have been no shock to a guy who enjoyed the first movie so much. Ironically, Jim’s character in Kick-Ass 2 is a Born-Again Christian and the big deal we made of the fact that he refuses to fire a gun is something he told us attracted him to the role in the first place.”
That’s a pretty cogent argument there. The final nail in the coffin, of course, is that Jim Carrey spent years campaigning against vaccines with his former girlfriend Jenny McCarthy (famous for eating her bogies on MTV). Their lamentable influence caused a major fall in vaccination rates in America, despite the fact that the two of them are actors (well, sort of) without the expertise necessary to give medical advice to the public. All of their arguments were circular and factually wrong on every conceivable level, but nevertheless Jim Carrey’s abuse of his celebrity probably contributed to many infant deaths that could have been avoided if vaccination rates were higher.
This is, of course, nothing to do with gun control, only that Jim Carrey should probably compare the harm done from his own anti-vaccination proselytising to violence in the media.
Let’s hope Jim Carrey’s decision to denounce a film with vague and hypocritical tweets on the eve of its release doesn’t do anything to harm his career.
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