Woods reaches out to distressed military vet via Twitter
ORLANDO, Fla. — Drama unfolded on Twitter on Monday night with actor James Woods reaching out to help an Orlando-area military veteran who had tweeted that he was “gonna kill myself tonight. I’ve lost everything, I have nobody, nobody cares.”
But Woods, who frequently uses his Twitter page to share his conservative political views, cared.
Woods, 71, an award-winning star known for villainous roles in “The Onion Field,” “Once Upon a Time in America” and “Casino,” used his Twitter account to call out for help and alert police to a distressed veteran contemplating suicide.
Maitland police, inundated with calls about the Twitter exchange throughout the night, finally reached the veteran by phone Tuesday morning.
“He advised he was OK but did not wish to have contact with law enforcement,” police spokesman Lt. Louis Grindle said in an email. “Our officers are still working to try and physically locate him to determine his well-being. ”
Woods’ original tweet included a screenshot from @MacMasters-a Twitter account that has since been deleted.
“I’m on Twitter every day, I retweet all the time but this is the first tweet I’ve ever written,” user @macmasters-a tweeted. “I’m good guy, I’m a veteran, I love America. I’m gonna kill myself tonight. I’ve lost everything, I have nobody, nobody cares.”
Woods responded to MacMasters’ cry for help in a series of tweets, initially asking him “tell me where you are.”
“We can talk. I don’t care what anybody thinks. Do you? Let’s have a conversation. Just you. and I,” Woods said in one tweet to MacMasters, adding in another, “I’m following you now, so you can DM me. We can talk privately. Or we can talk openly right here. Lot of people worried about you right now.”
The actor tried to engage the distraught veteran: “Someone said you’re Andrew. In Orlando? Im not trying to trap you. Let’s just talk. You also have your dog. Your little schnoot. Boy or girl?”
MacMasters has not been located, and the status of his health is not clear.
When the McMasters account disappeared, Woods tweeted, “Andrew, don’t feel embarrassed that you reached out in the darkness. Nobody thinks you’re foolish for that. You know every one of us reaching out to you right now has some depression, too.”
Woods also has used his account to help link people with family members in the wake of California wildfires.