Billy Bob Thornton says he doesn’t know ‘anything about politics’

Billy Bob Thornton is an actor, not a politician, which is why he believes he has no place pushing a political agenda on anyone — let alone at an awards show.

On a recent episode of the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast, the Landman star explained why he keeps his political beliefs to himself and thinks other celebrities should do the same.

‘I don’t know anything about politics’

“I don’t know anything about politics,” Thornton said. “I have no idea. And the stuff that I do believe, I don’t want to force it down somebody else’s throat because I’m not an expert on that.”

“I’m not really big on, like, at awards shows all of a sudden you start talking about saving the badgers and stuff. Like Ricky Gervais said, you know, it’s like, ‘Get your little award and f*** off,’ you know?” he continued.

Thornton doesn’t care about awards

Billy Bob Thornton claimed that he doesn’t ‘care about awards anymore.’ By: ZUMAPRESS.com/MEGA

Thornton made similar remarks on “The Joe Rogan Experience” in November 2025, claiming that he doesn’t “care about awards anymore.”

He’s “got plenty of them” — most won “under the wire, when awards were kind of real still,” he said.

“I’ve won a couple recently,” he added. “But these days, I just look at it as like, ‘Oh, OK, we’re gonna go over here and, you know, have some dry chicken breast and green beans, you know, and we’ll listen to people get up there and pontificate about how awesome they are.’”

Time and place

Billy Bob Thornton said ‘there’s a time and place for [activism].’ By: Xavier Collis/Image Press Agency/MEGA

While Thornton isn’t completely opposed to spreading the word, “there’s a time and place” for political activism, he said, and an awards show is not one of them. “You should just stick to what it is,” he urged.

“Don’t go up there and talk about saving the badgers in Wisconsin or something, you know what I’m saying?” he continued. “And people would argue and say, ‘Well, no, because I have a voice and because everybody knows me. This is a great platform for me to put this out there.’”

“Well, how about this? If you have a billion dollars, and you want to save the badgers, f******* save them,” he added. “I mean, you got plenty of money to save the badgers, trust me. … That’s barely gonna cut into your budget.”