What Happened to Me
(Page 3 of 4)
September / October 2003
By Catherine Clyne, Satya
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Have you felt any heat from Hollywood because of your outspokenness?
What people need to know is there is no Hollywood "black list." There was one in McCarthy times and I know we're reliving McCarthyism now, but there's only one way to get yourself blacklisted in Hollywood: Get old and get fat. Nobody gives a shit what your politics are. There is no bad publicity in entertainment -- all people in entertainment understand is, your name has been mentioned a lot.
I now get as many scripts sent to my house as I did when I was much more popular. I've also got two offers to write a book, offers for a radio show . . .
Kevin Smith will tell you this. His movie Dogma probably wouldn't have done anything, but the religious right decided to picket the theaters opening night, and the publicity got it opened at number one. Michael Moore went back on the best seller list after speaking against the war; the Dixie Chicks went back up to number one.
How do you think we'll look back on this period?
People are going to look back on this the way we do with McCarthyism, Japanese internment, witch-burning. A lot of us will say, "I did my part." I did the best I could to defend the Bill of Rights and the Constitution; to fight for social justice, true patriotism, and political awareness. Then you can ask some of these other people, "What did you do, Grandma and Grandpa?" "Well, I created a Web site devoted to celebrity-bashing. I made sure that guy from The West Wing was very uncomfortable with hate e-mails."
Part of me finds it very funny -- give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves. They do really look silly to the majority of Americans, and the rest of the world looks at those guys the way that we look at the Klan -- kind of laugh at them but also sort of alarmed.
You sound so optimistic. But I've read a couple of interviews in which you said you were losing sleep over all of this.
I was losing sleep, initially -- it's never heartening to be confronted with ignorance and cruelty. I don't feel that way anymore because of all the positive feedback I've received. It's been great to take some of the hate mail and read it on stage and the audience is in hysterics. It's all changed so much. I was so bummed, so down, but now I really look forward to getting more involved -- in elections and attending more panel discussions. There are just so many opportunities to be exposed to wonderful people and so many ways to get involved.