Actress and political activist Jennifer Lawrence opened up about gun violence this week, dismissing the idea that the entertainment industry’s constant use of firearms is partly to blame for America’s gun violence.
“I think that, you know, we’re the entertainment industry. At some point there has to be separation between politics and the entertainment industry or we’re going to suffer,” Lawrence said Wednesday during the New York premiere of her new spy thriller Red Sparrow. “This is, it’s an art. And it’s an art to entertain and, as an industry, we will suffer and people need to take that responsibility on themselves.”
“The same kind of violence is in different parts of the country that don’t have as many problems as we do,” Lawrence continued, “I think the problems is guns not entertainment industry.”
Lawrence, who has starred in several films featuring her character using firearms — including Winter’s Bone, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Joy — also praised the students campaigning for gun control in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that saw Nikalos Cruz kill 17 people with a legally purchased AR-15 rifle.
“I think what they’re doing is amazing,” Lawrence said. “I think that it’s really about time as citizens we don’t feel safe and if these kids don’t feel safe then they need to do something about it,” she said. “And I admire what they’re doing and I think they’re really brave.”
The A-lister was responding to President Donald Trump implying last week that violence on TV and in video games have spurred mass shootings.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
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