Colin’s tears of compassion for homeless in la
Actor talks of lockdown plight on chat show
I’m tearing up about it, you know it’s tough to see…
COLIN FARRELL ON HOMELESS CRISIS
HOLLYWOOD star Colin Farrell has opened up about a “tragic year” as he broke down on a TV chat show over the homelessness crisis.
In an interview on the US show Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Dubliner told how it felt like “Armageddon” as the borders began to close and countries went into lockdown.
But as he spoke about social unrest, the movie actor became tearful as he talked about how “tough” he found seeing homeless people along the streets of Los Angeles.
Discussing life during lockdown, the 45-year-old told fill-in host Wanda Sykes: “The border started to be closed and I got on the third last plane out of London back here [America].
“It was Armageddon, it was very strange. Me and my boy we locked down, it was insane, what a year it has been for everyone in so many ways.
“It’s been a tragic and difficult year of social unrest and ugliness that we have seen, and you know the homelessness here is pretty tough to see, I’m tearing up about it... it’s pretty tough to see.
“I don’t get it, am I doing anything about it right now? No, I’d like to do something about it.
“I don’t understand how so many people can be on the street.
“I say that knowing how fortunate I am, I live in a nice house, I have a very safe existence.”
Sykes also asked the Batman star if he was going home to Ireland soon.
The father of two perked up and said: “I miss it, I’m going back soon.”
It isn’t the first time Farrell has put a focus on the issue – he works with an organisation called the Homeless World Cup Foundation and he’s been known to lend a helping hand to people affected in the past.
In 2016 the actor spoke out about the crisis in Ireland during the takeover of Apollo House to house rough sleepers in Dublin.
He said at the time: “What is a refugee? It’s somebody who has to move from place to place without a home to try and find some sense of existence or some sense of peace.
“That’s what the homeless community in our country is and they’re basically refugees in their own land.”
Farrell, who is a recovered drug user, also spoke about the added hardship of addiction that affects many of those who live on the streets.
He said: “I wasn’t lying on a street corner at eight degrees at two o’clock
in the morning sticking a needle in between my toes, it wasn’t that level of hardship.
“We’re talking about a lot of hardship and I’m not saying all homeless people are drug addicts but there is a lot of that of course because it’s an escape. But, there go I, but for the grace of God.”
Farrell, who is a patron of the Irish Homeless Street Leagues, said politicians need to step up to the plate.
He added: “Our care is demonstrated with all the meetings and all the rallies, the population of our country is aghast at what’s going on.
“The most important thing is the aftercare programme and that’s what we’re trying to get some funds raised for – to help all these men and women who have fallen on very, very hard times that inflicts a certain amount of inhumanity on them.”