Former Doctor Who star and lead in HBO’s House of the Dragon Matt Smith is taking aim at Hollywood for “policing” its stories to avoid upsetting woke fans and says he is not “on board with trigger warnings.”
The actor told the Times of London that self-policing to avoid plot elements that might upset certain people is dumbing down storytelling, Deadline reported.
“Too much policing of stories and being afraid to bring them out because a climate is a certain way is a shame. I’m not sure I’m on board with trigger warnings,” said the actor who portrayed the 11th Doctor in famed British sci-fi series.
He went on to say that the entertainment industry is gutting storytelling to avoid upsetting the woke.
“It’s OK to feel uncomfortable or provoked while looking at a painting or watching a play, but I worry everything’s being dialed and dumbed down. We’re telling audiences they’re going to be scared before they’ve watched something,” he insisted.
Smith has criticized trigger warnings before. In an interview with the BBC in February, Smith used his own past as The Doctor to illustrate his point.
“I always thought that was one of the great things of doing Doctor Who,” he said. “That you scared children, in a controlled way, but you did scare them. Imagine you go to kids watching Doctor Who, ‘By the way, this might scare you.’ No, I’m not into it.”
Several other actors have spoken out about trigger warnings, as well.
In May, British actress Dame Judi Dench blasted squeamish theatergoers and insisted, “If you’re that sensitive, don’t go to the theater.”
Fellow Brit, Ralph Fiennes, also slammed the whole idea of trigger warnings and told the BBC, “I don’t think you should be prepared for these things and when I was young, (we) never had trigger warnings for shows.”
Goodfellas actor Frank Sivero recently took aim at AMC for adding a trigger warning notice to its broadcasts of the famed mob film and called the warning “an insult.”
Liberal HBO comedian and talk show host Bill Maher also criticized the idea of trigger warnings and insisted that they are “like wearing a mask on your mind.”
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