Billy Bob Thornton recently slammed celebrities who use awards shows as an opportunity to send political messages.
On the Nov. 7 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the Sling Blade actor, 70, sat down with Joe Rogan, 58, to discuss a variety of topics.
During their conversation, Thornton confessed that he “doesn’t care about awards anymore.” He explained that he’s “got plenty of them” and snagged them “under the wire, when awards were kind of real still.”
“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.'”
Additionally, Thornton pointed out that if someone wins an award and is “truly honored by it,” he believes they should “honor the people who gave it to you,” instead of raising awareness for causes, political or otherwise.
“There is a time and place for that,” he claimed, and during awards shows, celebrities “should just stick to what it is.”
Thornton added, “Don’t go up there and talk about saving the badgers in Wisconsin or something, you know what I’m saying? 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.'”
To conclude his thoughts on the topic, he suggested a different way celebrities can further the causes they are passionate about.
“Well, how about this? If you have a billion dollars, and you want to save the badgers, f–king save them,” he pointed out. “I mean, you got plenty of money to save the badgers, trust me. That is not, that’s barely gonna cut into your budget.”
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This story was originally reported by Parade on Nov 9, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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