By Alexandra Krauska
Rabat – American Actor Will Smith talked about Donald Trump at a press event in Dubai, saying that Trump’s rhetoric is hateful, but may help the United States to realize the flaws in those beliefs.
“in terms of Islamophobia in America, for me that is why it important to show up. I am in Dubai and I am having fun and I am Tweeting and I am showing pictures, hey does not look like they hate me, does it,” the American actor said sarcastically.
“As painful as it is to hear Donald Trump talk, and as embarrassing as it is as an American to hear him talk, I think it’s good,” he said. “We get to hear it, we get to know who people are, and now we get to cleanse it out of our country.”
The press event on Sunday was part of the publicity tour for Suicide Squad, the DC Comics movie about the “bad guys” of the DC universe. Smith was cast as Deadshot, a supervillain and sharpshooting assassin.
This was not an easy role for Smith, however. “I had never played bad guys before,” he said in an interview with Access Hollywood earlier this month. “I couldn’t understand the mentality. I got this really powerful comprehension that what makes someone evil is they don’t think they’re evil, they think they’re doing good. They actually think it’s okay to call a woman a ‘fat pig’ on television. They think it’s okay, that’s what makes them evil.” Smith referred to the incident in which Donald Trump called Rosie O’Donnell a “fat pig” in an interview.
Smith has been very outspoken about Donald Trump, either overtly or through pointed references. Several times in recent months, he has discussed his thoughts on the businessman’s campaign and his supporters. In an interview with BET.com, he expressed his views on the importance of the election this November.
“I think, as Americans, we have a really, really critical decision to make right now. I think many times in history, the soul of our country is at stake. Who we are. Are we exclusionary or inclusive? Are we going to commit to diversity or are we going to commit to separateness? Are we going to commit to optimism or fear and pessimism? So I think more than ever, we have a huge decision to make. Like, what does it mean to be American?”
