Jim Carrey slams Trump for 'kidnapping children,' hails Kaepernick, DeNiro at Hollywood awards night
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jim Carrey arrives at the 2018 BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards at the Beverly Hilton on Friday. (Associated Press)
Jim Carrey laid into President Donald Trump during an acceptance speech at the Britannia Awards in Los Angeles, accusing Trump of trafficking in shamelessness and "kidnapping children."
Carrey was one of six honorees at the Beverly Hilton event on Friday night, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
"I’m glad it didn’t come in the mail," Carrey joked about his award, referencing the rash of mail bombs sent to prominent Democratic figures in recent days. "Yes, I no longer have packages delivered to my home in the great America fashioned in the last couple of years. I don’t ever remember it being this great, actually."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After expressing thanks to BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) for his award for Excellence in Comedy, Carrey credited silent film-era star Charlie Chaplin with being his inspiration before making references to Trump.
"We need to be clear: Shamelessness is not, and will never be a superpower. It is the mark of a villain. Kidnapping children is not what great nations do,” he said, referring the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy of separating migrants from their children at the U.S.-Mexico border. “One half of America at this moment believes there is a sinister deep state diabolically plotting, to ... what? Give them health care?"
Around 2,600 children were separated from their parents at the border, a Government Accountability Office report says.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We in America are misinformed," Carrey said. "Reality shows have warped our reality of what a hero is, or what truth is. So tonight I'd like to dedicate this award to those who remind us of our virtues, who remind us of the truth."
He then thanked Chaplin, Brett Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford, Trump dossier author Christopher Steele, Colin Kaepernick and actor Robert DeNiro.
He said Chaplin took on the right wing in his day, "which we are fighting today."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fellow honoree Cate Blanchett also addressed the current divisive climate.
“The black, the white, the blue, the red, it’s just like, Oh my God, when are you just going to get on with the fact that we’re all different, embrace that difference and just move forward?,” she said while accepting a trophy named after director Stanley Kubrick. “We’ve got to acknowledge that we’re all f----- up, and we all need forgiveness…Turn around and give the person beside you a hug.”
Members at the event then proceeded to embrace each other.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Carrey, 56, has been an outspoken critic of Trump in recent months. He has recently leveled artistic attacks on the president, drawing politically charged cartoons mocking Trump and some members of his administration and posting them on social media.
One drawing features Trump depicted as a Wicked Witch and another shows the president bathing in what appears to be sewage, a metaphor for his policies.
The actor has received backlash from some who deem the artwork disrespectful and even disgraceful.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}His criticism of Trump apparently caught the attention of Cesar Sayoc, the man suspected of mailing bombs to prominent Democratic figures earlier this week.
Sayoc allegedly used various Twitter accounts to threaten actors and politicians, including Carrey, filmmaker Ron Howard, financier George Soros and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.