Internet daddy Pedro Pascal has spoken out against the culture of fear that has descended on the U.S. following the re-election of President Donald Trump.
The star of the dystopian hit The Last of Us is in France for the Cannes Film Festival to promote his latest flick, Eddington, a pandemic-era neo-Western directed by indie legend Ari Aster.
In Aster’s new film, Pascal plays a small-town mayor campaigning against a down-on-his-luck sheriff played by Joaquin Phoenix in a New Mexico town in 2020. The Black Lives Matter protests and the mask policies of the COVID-19 pandemic set the backdrop for simmering racial and political tensions, pitting neighbor against neighbor. Austin Butler and Emma Stone also star in the film, which his set for a July 18 release.
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Touching upon some of the themes in the movie, a Spanish journalist asked Pascal whether he personally feared for Latin migrants in the U.S. “It’s obviously very scary for an actor who participated in a movie to speak to issues like this,” Pascal said in response. “It’s far too intimidating of a question for me to address. I’m not informed enough.” He did, however, continue.
“I want people to be safe and protected,” Pascal said. “I want very much to live on the right side of history.” He explained that, as the child of Chilean refugees who fled the military dictatorship of Salvador Allende, he will “always” stand by the principles of asylum. However, he expressed his fear at going further in criticizing the current U.S. administration.
“I’m too afraid of your question,” he admitted. “I hardly remember what it was.”
Trump’s immigration policies, focusing on the mass-deportation of “illegal” migrants, have been the source of much tension since he returned to power in January. Selena Gomez, an American singer of Mexican heritage, was attacked at the start of the year by Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, after she posted a teary video calling for support for migrants facing deportation.
“If they don’t like it, then go to Congress and change the law. We’re going to do this operation without apology,” Homan told Fox News in January, railing against any celebrity who would dare speak out against his party’s policies.
“Fear is the way that they win,” Pascal said in response to a later question at the Cannes panel. “Keep telling the stories and keep expressing yourself and keep fighting to be who you are.”
“F--- the people that try to make you scared,” said The Mandalorian star. “Fight back. This is the perfect way to do so, through telling stories. Don’t let them win.”
