Matthew McConaughey warns against politicization of pandemic: 'The virus doesn't care who you voted for'
Matthew McConaughey has hit out at the political division in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic as he said, “We need all hands on the rope”. The Academy Award-winning actor appeared on ‘Special Report with Bret Baier’ on Tuesday, May 12, and delivered the message of unity.
“I could feel that this united purpose we all have as Americans to beat this enemy and this virus, that purpose got hijacked by partisan politics. The narrative became, if you want to go to work, you're on the far right. If you don't go to work, you want to stay home, you're on the far left. And now even the mask-wearing is getting politicized, where if you want to wear a mask, you wear a mask, you're a liberal. And if you don't, you're conservative. And that's just not true. The virus doesn't ,” the 50-year-old told Baier on FoxNews.
McConaughey stated that the politicization of the deadly virus, which has killed more than 80,000 people in the United States, has left people fighting “two wars”, one against each other and the other against the virus.
“But if we try to fight the one against the virus, which is the one we should be fighting. We're gonna beat it,” he added.
The ‘Interstellar’ star’s interview came after he posted a PSA video on his Instagram titled 'It's about us’, which sent out the same message that he delivered on his Fox News appearance. When asked about the video, McConaughey, said: “Part of it is saying just that, to remind us that this is not about politics. It's about us, the USA. We're gonna take care of each other. Right now we have a collective purpose.
“Look at who we were in World War II. And we have a crisis that came to us. We were united for that purpose. And all of a sudden the human factor started to get split and two tribes started fighting each other in partisan politics," McConaughey, who has founded the Just Keep Livin' fitness and wellness programs for high school students, said.
"And that is not what we need. We need a collection right now. This is a tug of war at the virus. We need all hands on the rope,” he noted.
McConaughey also said that social distancing measures and using masks were short term solutions against the virus. “I think they're Band-Aids to hold off until science catches up until there are no two patients for everyone bed like there was in New York until we see that an asymptomatic person doesn't give it to someone who didn't have it. So we can protect the elderly, especially and the younger ones. This is unchartered waters. There's not a playbook,” he added.
This comes after a previous report claimed that McConaughey will be joining the faculty of the University of Texas, Austin. He will be teaching a 'Script to Screen' film production class at the Moody College of Communication. The actor had earlier co-taught a course at the university as a guest along with filmmaker and faculty member Scott Rice.
