I Wish Anthony Mackie Would Mackie Less

Was Anthony Mackie always this… differently minded? Or did he just hide it well?

Of late, Mackie—who consistently gets solid work in movies like The Hurt Locker and 8 Mile—has been tossing out some of the silliest two cents known to man. YBF accurately described him as “that ‘New Black’ cousin at the family reunion,” the one who confidently and loudly spews garbage opinions.

The stupidity is pouring out right now because Mackie, who normally appears to be just a simple jolly man, is promoting his role in the upcoming comedic drama Our Brand Is Crisis. First, he gave a soft endorsement of Donald Trump in a BET interview, stating:

“If you look at Trump, he’s an easy sell, because you can sell him as the guy who worked his way up from nothing. If you’re the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps candidate, people would identify with that.” Asked if that constitutes a Trump endorsement, Mackie says “I’m on the bandwagon. I’m drinking the Kool-Aid.”

He later backtracked on this, claiming it was just a bad joke.

Then, when asked whether it matters if Marvel’s Black Panther movie has a black director attached, Mackie (who’s playing Jesse Owens in a future biopic) told The Daily Beast:

“I don’t think it’s important at all. As a director your job is to tell a story. You know, they didn’t get a horse to direct Seabiscuit! The thing is I don’t think the race of the director has to do with their ability to tell a story. I think it’s all about the director’s ability to be able to relate to that story and do it justice. I think men can direct women, and two of my greatest work experiences were with female directors. So I think it all depends. May the best man—or woman—win.”

In the same interview, Mackie said:

“…I don’t think we should go around the world and impose democracy on everybody. Some people just aren’t made for democracy. Some people just need a dictator. That’s just who they are.”

Looking over his tweets from the past year, there seems to be nothing incriminating, other than Mackie being a bit of a hashtag fanatic. He mostly tweets about his movies and nothing else interesting. And, like many people, he frequently retweets Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Mackie also once thanked Puerto Rico “for being so beautiful.” Oh, Papa Doc, you were better off being boring. Please Mackie less.