Outspoken conservative actor James Woods on Monday opened up about why he remained friends with Rob Reiner despite his political views following the stabbing deaths of the director and his wife Michele.
“When people say horrible things about Rob right now, I find it, quite frankly, infuriating and distasteful,” said Woods in a Fox News appearance.
Woods told host Jesse Watters that Reiner “literally saved” his career by rallying behind him to join the cast of “Ghosts of Mississippi,” the director’s 1996 film on the trial of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith, who murdered civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963.
Woods, who starred as De La Beckwith, went on to earn an Oscar nomination for his supporting role and remained friends with Reiner, a staunch liberal and political activist who championed progressive causes.
He recalled people seeing the two laugh and kidding each other at parties, interactions they later asked him about considering their political differences.
“I would say, ‘I think Rob Reiner is a great patriot. Do I agree with some of many of his ideas on how that patriotism should be enacted to celebrate the America that we both love? No. But he doesn’t agree with me either but he also respects my patriotism,’” Woods explained.
“We had a different path to the same destination which was a country we both love.′ And when people would say terrible things to me on social media about him, I said, ‘You got it all wrong.’”
The actor’s comments arrive after President Donald Trump’s widely criticized post tying Reiner’s death to “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a take he later doubled down on.
A number of critics have since pointed out Trump’s hypocrisy, citing his and the GOP’s criticism of those who made light of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September.
On Monday, Woods referred to the director’s now-viral comments in the wake of Kirk’s assassination.
“People said such horrible things and Rob did not,” said Woods of Reiner, who emphasized that political violence isn’t the “solution” and commended Erika Kirk for her “forgiveness” in the wake of her husband’s assassination.
Woods continued, “Did I agree with [Reiner’s] politics? I did not. Did I love him as a friend, as an artist, as an icon of Hollywood and as a patriot? I most certainly did. And I am just absolutely devastated by this terrible event, especially for his family.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.celebrity.land ’
