Clint Eastwood: Everyone needs to 'get over' Donald Trump's racism
'We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren’t called racist', the 86-year-old director said
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Clint Eastwood has some words of advice for people who accuse Donald Trump of being a racist: get over it.
In an interview with Esquire, Eastwood, 86, lashed out against so-called “political correctness” and praised the Republican nominee for his improvised and unfiltered approach to delivering stump speeches.
“[Trump is] onto something, because secretly everybody’s getting tired of political correctness, kissing up,” Eastwood said in the Wednesday interview. “That’s the kiss-ass generation we’re in right now. We’re really in a p*ssy generation.
He continued: “We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren’t called racist.”
Eastwood was born in 1930, at the height of Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation and were mostly enforced in the US South, but were still present in states like California, where the actor is from.
He stopped short of endorsing either Mr Trump or Hillary Clinton in the interview, but said that both candidates have certainly said “dumb things”.
“You know, he’s a racist now because he’s talked about this judge,” he said, referring to Mr Trump’s comments made in June about Indiana-borne Judge Gonzalo Curiel presiding over the Trump University lawsuit.
“He’s said a lot of dumb things. So have all of them. Both sides. … But everybody – the press and everybody’s going, ‘Oh, well, that’s racist’, and they're making a big hoodoo out of it.
“Just f**king get over it. It’s a sad time in history.”
Still, if he had to choose, Eastwood said he would “have to go for Trump”.
Eastwood became the focus of ridicule when he appeared at the 2012 Republican National Convention and spoke to an imaginary Barack Obama in a chair beside him. But he admitted the stunt was “silly at the time”.