Bryan Cranston, of Breaking Bad fame, last night accepted the Tony Award for best actor in a play for his portrayal of fictional fed up news man Howard Beale in Network by launching into a full-throated defense of the fourth estate.
Unlike fellow actor Robert De Niro he did not call out Trump by name, but then he didn’t have to…
“Bryan Cranston didn’t need to zing President Donald Trump by name to get his point across at the Tony Awards Sunday.
In receiving his award for Best Leading Actor in a Play as Howard Beale in “Network,” he slammed the president’s demonization of the press.
“Howard Beale is a fictitious TV newsman who found his way into the line of fire because of his pursuit of the truth, and I would like to dedicate this to all the real journalists around the world … who actually are in the line of fire with their pursuit of the truth,” Cranston said.
“The media is not the enemy of the people. Demagoguery is the enemy of the people.”
“It’s absurd to think that the media is the enemy of the people,” the “Breaking Bad” actor said backstage at Radio City Music Hall. “If that message keeps getting propagated over and over and over again, sometimes it starts to seep in. And the perception of the truth is often more important than the truth, because if people believe it, it doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not.”
You can see Cranston’s on stage remarks about the press below, beginning after his “thank yous” at about 1:35.
Thank you Bryan for your measured but accurate remarks.
Demagoguery is indeed the enemy of the people; and completely synonymous with the blowhard in the oval Office.
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