Denzel Washington is making headlines for taking a bold stance against cancel culture.
During an interview with Jillian Hardeman-Webb of Complex, the two-time Academy Award winner spoke plainly about being afraid to offend for fear of drawing the wrath of the loudest on social media.
Washington sat alongside Spike Lee, who directed his new film “Highest 2 Lowest.”
Hardeman-Webb asked the actor his thoughts on people losing careers and paychecks by offending others or going against the grain – or being “canceled,” as she put it.
“What does that mean, to be canceled?” Washington asked.
Hardeman-Webb replied, “It means you lose public support.”
“Who cares?” Washington asked. “What made public support so important to begin with?”
Would the world be better if we had more people like Denzel Washington?
Hardeman-Webb noted that in today’s world, “followers now are currency.”
Washington pushed back:
“I don’t care who’s following who. Okay? You can’t lead and follow at the same time, and you can’t follow and lead at the same time. I don’t follow anybody. I follow the heavenly spirit. I follow God, I don’t follow man. I have faith in God. I have hope in man, but look around, it ain’t working out so well.”
He continued with some advice: “You can’t be canceled if you haven’t signed up. Don’t sign up.”
Laughing and stretching his arms, he turned to Lee.
“Don’t get me started,” Washington said. “You know, chest is getting tight talking about it.”
Just a day earlier, Washington shared similar convictions on Emmy-winner Jake Hamilton’s show “Jake’s Takes.”
“I don’t do it for Oscars,” Washington said when asked about awards. “I really don’t care about that kind of stuff. I’ve been at this a long time. There’s times when I won and shouldn’t have won, and shouldn’t have won and won. Man gives the award. God gives the reward.”
Washington, a devout Christian, has long been outspoken about faith guiding his choices.
The Bible encourages believers to live by God’s standards, not the world’s.
1 John 2:15 says: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Romans 12:2 reads: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Washington, whose newest flick was released over the weekend, is living scripture in a world and an industry that is so often hostile toward faith.
He’s been at it for a long time, and it’s worked well for him.
“Highest 2 Lowest” tells the story of a music mogul, played by Washington, who faces a life-or-death moral choice after his son becomes the target of a kidnapping plot.
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