Actor Bryan Cranston has played a lot of memorable roles — his Walter White on Breaking Bad got so deep into the culture he became a popular Halloween costume, his dentist on Seinfeld averaged more laughs-per-screen-time than any other guest star…
Bryan Cranston keeps cracking Jerry up.
— Michael Warburton (@MichaelWarbur17) February 23, 2023
Blooper time.
SEINFELD (1997) #JerrySeinfeld #KarenFineman
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And his frenetic, lovable, overwhelmed father on Malcolm in the Middle was another winner with fans and critics alike.
But Cranston has never played the role of lightning rod before. The actor has been outspoken politically, but he just cast himself for a far bigger, more divisive gig. Currently blowing up on the internet, Cranston took about 60 seconds to tell Chris Wallace why he believes the Trump red hat slogan Make America Great Again can be perceived as an expression of racist ideology.
I wasn't worried one bit when I saw Bryan Cranston trending along side MAGA. Talk to them my man. https://t.co/cfEJzfipNf
— ……… (@NoIdeaWhyIAm) February 27, 2023
Cranston’s chief point is that the “Again” of MAGA signifies a time when things were wonderful in America. And he contends that for that idyll to be true, it would need to exclude the viewpoint of Black Americans who he believes largely haven’t experienced America as great.
MAGA, Cranston implies, is a dog whistle, glorifying a supposedly ideal past when real equality wasn’t on the table.
Predictably, Cranston’s commentary is sparking an eruption of fury on the far right, and much praise on the left. By taking the role of political lightning rod and underscoring the distance between the opposing poles in the culture wars, Cranston places himself in so-called “woke” territory. If he ever was, Malcolm’s dad isn’t in the middle anymore.
“Another whiny self-hating liberal,” is a comment that captures the basic sentiment of the MAGA faithful. There are much more profane assessments of Cranston’s thinking, too — visit the comments if you want repetition. Here’s another MAGA adherent who’s dismissive of Cranston: “This is why nobody with a working brain gives AF what Hollyweird “celebrities” think. He’s irrelevant & inconsequential!”
OccupyDemocrats has the opposing take: “Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston tips Trump’s MAGA movement, declares that America ‘was never great’ for Black Americans — and that Americans who support Trump ‘have a blind spot’ to racism due to their ‘privilege’.”
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