'I wasn't invited to those parties': Kelsey Grammer mocks woke Hollywood hypocrisy

19 hours ago 2

You don't need to be a former prince of Denmark to play Hamlet, actor Kelsey Grammer recently explained.

The "Cheers" and "Frasier" star pushed back against a growing trend in acting — particularly in theater — that insists performers should only play roles that directly reflect their own lived experience. Taken to its logical conclusion, Grammer argued, the idea is both limiting and absurd.

'So, unfortunately, there will be no more acting careers. ... Because you'll just play who you are.'

Grammer was addressing the claim that certain characters — "trans" people, for example — should only be played by actors who share those identities. Speaking on "The Megyn Kelly Show," he questioned where such rules would end.

"How many straight men do we have to have in the theater to allow us to have straight relationships?" Grammer asked.

Make believe

He pointed out the inconsistency of the standard. Theater has always relied on performers playing roles that don't mirror their personal lives: Unmarried actors routinely portray married couples without controversy.

"In the world of the play, a man and a woman are married," he said. "A lot of people doing those roles — that's not the case, but it is acting. We've now entered a world where people say you have to be the person in order to play the person."

"So, unfortunately, there will be no more acting careers," he said. "Because you'll just play who you are."

Grammer reminded his colleagues that acting has always depended on imagination. None of today's performers lived in the 1800s, nor have they been wounded by a poisoned sword — yet actors still line up to play Shakespeare's tragic prince.

"They all want to play Hamlet," he said.

Manufactured outrage

Turning to Hollywood more broadly, the 70-year-old actor also addressed what he sees as the failures of woke ideology in politics and the media.

"The woke thing is really a manufactured outrage that has been used as a lever for political change — when ... it probably doesn't have the teeth for that," Grammer told Kelly.

The movement's lack of credibility, he suggested, ultimately limits its influence. "It probably doesn't have the chops to make it all the way to, 'Oh, we have to define our lives by this,'" Grammer said.

Grammer's disconnect from Hollywood, he added, extends beyond politics.

Party pooper

"I wasn't invited to those parties. Oh, I'm glad I wasn't," he told the host.

While it was not immediately clear what kinds of parties he meant, Kelly allowed him to continue.

"A few years ago, I was on a flight with a fairly famous actor who shared some stuff with me," Grammer said. "And I thought, 'Holy moly — this actually goes on in Hollywood.' And he was a participant and a fairly knowledgeable fellow. And I thought, 'My goodness, I really dodged a bullet there.'"

Kelly interjected to ask whether he meant "sex stuff or drug stuff."

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

"Sex ... just all of it. All the stuff," Grammer replied.

Despite being out of step with many of his Hollywood peers, Grammer has long been open about his views. Kelly noted that her production team had uncovered a clip from a 2012 appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," in which Grammer described himself to the audience as an "out Republican."

That stance wasn't new. Born in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Grammer had been defending right-leaning views even earlier. In 2011, he defended the Tea Party during a CNN appearance opposite host Piers Morgan. While he said he didn't agree with the movement on everything — describing himself as more libertarian on issues like gay marriage — he added that he found none of its views egregious.

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