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Did Tim Allen condone child labor? A look at his controversial political opinions ahead of 'Last Man Standing'

When ABC axed ‘Last Man Standing’, many had speculated that it was due to Allen’s political views

Actor Tim Allen is known for portraying popular characters such as Mike Baxter on ‘Last Man Standing’ and as the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the ‘Toy Story’ series. Also, who can forget his Santa Claus in the ‘Santa Clause’ film trilogy? However, in November the actor courted controversy because of his tweets. We had reported that he shared a series of confusing tweets about German philosopher Karl Marx.

He wrote, "Finally an honest progressive position: '…short-term demands among them a progressive income tax; abolition of inheritances and private property; abolition of child labor; free public education; nationalization of the means of transport. Guess who wrote this?" followed by "Carl Marx. Communist manifesto. Wikipedia."

Realizing he had misspelled Karl Marx's name, he then continued, "Oops Karl" before saying, "I am sure Mr Marx would have made adjustments to his position had he been exposed to our country's advanced evolution of worker unions and our protection of child labor." He even reacted to one of the jokes made by a Twitter user in response to his tweet saying, "One of you tweeted which Marx brother was Karl, I burst out laughing. Wished I had said that."

His followers were confused. Some alleged that his sarcasm made it seem like he may have supported the idea of child labor. As mentioned in our report, one user even questioned, “Are you implying the abolition of child labor is bad Tim?” Allen is considered to be a political conservative.

As reported by Detroit Free Press, Allen narrated an ad for John James, the GOP candidate for the US Senate. "Michigan, a place where people respect each other, love each other," says Allen in the 30-second spot. He adds, "Michigan, that's John James, defending our country, offering a healing hand, creating jobs that matter.”

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, during an appearance on ABC's ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’, Allen compared living in President Donald Trump's America to 1930s Germany when Kimmel asked him about attending the presidential inauguration.

“Yeah, I went to the Inauguration. You’ve gotta be real careful around here,” Allen said. “You get beat up if don’t believe what everybody believes. This is like ’30s Germany. I don’t know what happened. If you’re not part of the group, ‘You know what we believe is right,’ I go, ‘Well, I might have a problem with that.'”

The report also states that during an appearance on ‘The Kelly File’, he had said that it was “hypocritical" that Hollywood didn't like Trump because he is a bully. “What I find odd in Hollywood is that they didn’t like Trump because he was a bully. But if you had any kind of inkling that you were for Trump, you got bullied for doing that. And it gets a little bit hypocritical to me," said Allen.

When ABC axed ‘Last Man Standing’, many had speculated that it was due to Allen’s political views. However, a 2017 article in The Hollywood Reporter states that ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey cleared the air and said Allen's political affiliation did not influence the decision. "I wouldn't say that was the deciding factor," she said. However, after a year, Fox picked up the series and is all set to air its ninth and final season in January.

In a 2018 EW interview, Allen was asked about being an “assumed Trump supporter” and whether he is a “Trump fan”. Allen had answered, “You know … it’s a very loaded question. I’ve met [Trump] at the charity event years ago, and that certainly doesn’t fit with the man who tweets. I’ve met a lot of people in private whose public persona is a bit off. My perception is 'let’s see what he gets done'."

"Let’s stop banging on the pilot’s door and trying to pull the guy out of his seat while he’s still flying.” He continued, “You might not like how he’s flying the plane but let’s let him land it. Do I like him or agree with him? … I don’t know. Somebody got this NAFTA thing done. How did that happen? It’s like a sleight of hand with this dude. There’s this smoke and smelly food but over here he just fixed a pothole."

"The theater of this is fascinating. He doesn’t do it very attractively but you don’t even realize the economy is doing better. Is it? There’s so much drama. Maybe it took this type of guy to get stuff done because it was so stuck in the mud. I’m just watching the theater of it and trying to keep my personal opinions out of it. What difference does it make whether I like him?”

Recently, speaking about the last season of his show ‘Last Man Standing’, as reported by Variety, Allen said, “I’ve been one lucky dude to have been part of ‘Last Man Standing’. I so appreciate the incredible support from our fans over this near-decade of work. As we approach the ninth season, I just admire and feel grateful for all the hard work our wonderful cast and crew have done."

"We had all considered to end the show after last season, but together with Fox, we decided to add a year so we could produce a full season to create the gentle and fun goodbye. I’m looking forward to a memorable and hilarious final season,” he added. ‘Last Man Standing’ season 9 airs on January 3, 8.30 pm ET on FOX, before moving to its regular Thursdays, 9:30 pm time slot from the second episode onwards.