Actor Denzel Washington says it is time for the mainstream media to stop selling “BS” to the American public.
“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do read it, you’re misinformed,” Washington told the Hill at the premiere of his latest film Tuesday night. “Just say it, sell it. Anything you practice you’ll get good at — including BS.”
Washington is currently promoting his heavily Oscar-tipped film Fences, about a former baseball star turned garbage collector’s struggle with race-relations and family drama in 1950s Pittsburgh.
In August, the Academy Award-winner was featured in a false report claiming that he had backed Trump’s presidential campaign. Though the story was false, it was spread far and wide online.
Washington says the mainstream media need to live up to their “responsibility” to be truthful, warning that the temptation to be “first” has the potential to hurt people.
“So what a responsibility you all have — to tell the truth,” he said at a recent red carpet event. “In our society, now it’s just first — who cares, get it out there. We don’t care who it hurts. We don’t care who we destroy. We don’t care if it’s true.”
Fences opens in theaters on Christmas Day. The film is directed by Washington and also stars Viola Davis and Mykelti Williamson.
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