Irons: I’m terrified to share my opinions on social media
JEREMY IRONS, the veteran actor, says he has become less opinionated because he is “terrified” of the prospect of a social media backlash.
The 71-year-old, who has caused controversy in the past with comments on gay marriage and abortion, said he had retreated from expressing his political views because things are only seen as “black and white” on platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
Speaking in the US, he defended fellow actors who have been outspoken on politics and said people in his profession have a better understanding of different viewpoints because they play so many characters.
But he said: “Though with the current climate, I tend to shut my mouth really over the last seven years because with the internet and with Twitter and Facebook and all that, which I don’t do because I’m terrified of it.
“The world seems to have become rather black and white.
“Whereas we know all things, they’re murky grey, they’re strange, they’re difficult, they need debate and I was hoping that the internet would allow us to debate as a society, but it seems to have denigrated to something which we are terrified of being reported on. I think that’s a huge shame.”
In 2013, Irons said that he had fears legalising gay marriage would “debase” marital law and could create a loophole that would see fathers marrying their sons to avoid paying inheritance tax.
He has also supported the legal availability of abortion to women but was also quoted as saying that “the church is right to say it’s a sin”.
Irons, who has been nominated for an Emmy for outstanding lead actor in HBO’S Watchmen, said: “I think actors have to be careful. We can be very useful mouthpieces to great causes which need mouthpieces, but we have to make sure that we are educated completely in what we are talking about.
“But on a deeper note, we work all over the world. We pretend to be other people. We get inside other people and see what it feels like to be in that social situation, in that period of history, so it does educate us towards what it’s like to be other people.
“So I would say that it is easier for us to be empathetic and to see other people’s situations and then think that is unfair and we need to try to do something about that to change it.”