Author and cultural critic Bret Easton Ellis says he was called a “Trump apologist” and was accused of “colluding with Russia” as he was leaving the Sunset Tower hotel in Los Angeles Saturday night, he tweeted over the weekend.
Ellis — who has in the past admonished liberals for “losing their sh*t” over Donald Trump’s presidency — wrote in a series of tweets that he would no longer hold political discussions, with dinner guests or anyone else.
“Too much insanity. Another dinner ruined,” the American Psycho author wrote. “People are f*cking crazy. Get a grip.”
Ellis has been one of the foremost critics of the so-called “Resistance,” or the anti-Donald Trump mania, that has consumed much of the popular and political culture in the wake of last year’s general election.
In a monologue on his Bret East Ellis Podcast in March, the author and screenwriter said that supposedly “morally superior wealthy people” were ruining his social outings with their rantings about Donald Trump. He also took aim at celebrities including Lena Dunham and Barbra Streisand, whom he accused of blaming the president for their own “problems and neuroses.”
“You can dislike the fact that Trump was elected, yes, definitely, and yet still understand and accept ultimately that he was elected this time around,” Ellis said. “Or you can have a complete mental and emotional collapse and let the Trump presidency define you, which I think is absurd. … If you are still losing your sh*t about Trump, I think you should probably go to a shrink and not let the bad man that was elected define your self-victimization and your life. You are letting him win.”
During the same podcast, Ellis also took issue with the phrase, “resist,” and wondered where the directive was coming from.
“Some of us have been wondering: Resist what, exactly? And who is telling us to resist whatever? The people who voted for the candidate who lost? I’m supposed to listen to them? Is this a joke?” he added. “Well, I’m certainly resisting the childish meltdowns I’ve been witnessing at dinners and on social media and on late night TV and too many times in my own home.”
A rep for Ellis didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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