US comic pulls out of film promotion over shooting

US comic actor Jim Carrey has pulled out of promoting a film in which he stars, “Kick Ass 2,” saying he could not condone its extreme violence after the Sandy Hook massacre.

He announced his decision on Twitter, triggering an online appeal from one of the movie’s executive producers to change his mind about promoting the movie, shot before the killings and due for US release in August.

“I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence,” Carrey wrote, referring to a US school shooting last year, which killed 20 youngsters and six adults.

“My apologies to others involve with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart,” he tweeted.

In “Kick Ass 2,” 51-year-old Carrey — famous for films including 1994’s “Dumb and Dumber” and “The Truman Show” (1998) — plays Colonel Stars and Stripes, an ex-mobster who becomes a crime fighting team leader.

Executive producer Mark Millar appealed to Carrey in an online blog to reconsider his decision. “Jim is a passionate advocate of gun-control and I respect both his politics and his opinion,” he wrote.

“But I’m baffled by this sudden announcement as nothing seen in this picture wasn’t in the screenplay eighteen months ago.

“Yes, the body-count is very high, but a movie called ‘Kick-Ass 2’ really has to do what it says on the tin.”

Writing on his blog Millarworld, he added: “A sequel to the picture … was always going to have some blood on the floor, and this should have been no shock to a guy who enjoyed the first movie so much.”

“Like Jim, I’m horrified by real-life violence (even though I’m Scottish), but ‘Kick-Ass 2’ isn’t a documentary. No actors were harmed in the making of this production!

“Ultimately, this is his decision, but I’ve never quite bought the notion that violence in fiction leads to violence in real-life any more than Harry Potter casting a spell creates more Boy Wizards in real-life.”

Millar, who wrote the comics on which the two Kickass movies — the first was released in 2010 — are based, concluded: “Jim, I love ya and I hope you reconsider for all the above points.”

Carrey made his views about Sandy Hook well known in the wake of the December 14, 2012 shootings, tweeting among other things: “20 mass shootings a yr in America. Are you ok with that? I’m not. ;^”