Schwarzenegger turns insult from Internet troll into 'teachable moment'
LOS ANGELES • Arnold Schwarzenegger turned an offensive comment about the Special Olympics that someone left on his Facebook page into a “teachable moment.”
The comment came in response to a video the former bodybuilding champion posted Thursday to his page congratulating the winners of the Special Olympics World Games held earlier this week in Austria, where Schwarzenegger is from.
Schwarzenegger appears in the video message that also features the text, “These guys inspire me!”
The video has attracted more than 400,000 views and drawn hundreds of comments, but not all of them were kind. One, in particular, referred to Special Olympians using a derogatory term and questioned the need for the Special Olympics at all.
“The Olympics are for the best athletes in the entire world to compete against each other to determine who is the best,” the individual wrote. “Having r-----s competing is doing the opposite!”
Schwarzenegger posted his response just hours later, noting, “As evil and stupid as this comment is, I'm not going to delete it or ban you (yet) because it's a teachable moment.”
The former Republican governor of California continued:
“You have two possible paths ahead. Right now, I guarantee you that these athletes have more courage, compassion, brains and skill — actually more of every positive human quality than you.
“So take their path — you could learn from them, and try to challenge yourself, to give back, to add something to the world. Or you can stay on your path, and keep being a sad pitiful jealous Internet troll who adds nothing to the world but mocks anyone who does out of small-minded jealousy.
“I know that all you really want is attention, so let me be clear. If you choose to keep going this way, no one will ever remember you.”
That the 69-year-old actor stood up to a hater is not a surprise. He's fired back at critics before, including President Donald Trump, who in January blamed Schwarzenegger for the low ratings of The New Celebrity Apprentice, the latest version of reality show franchise originated by Trump.
“Wow, the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got 'swamped' (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT,” Trump said in a tweet posted Jan. 6.
This week, Schwarzenegger offered up a response.
“Donald, the ratings are in, and you got swamped,” Schwarzenegger, who did not support Trump in the election last year, said in a video.
Schwarzenegger was referring to Trump's sinking approval ratings, which had hit just 37 per cent last weekend, according to a Gallup poll.