Actor and director Rob Reiner is issuing a warning amid Donald Trump’s continued crackdown on free speech, cautioning that the United States has only a year before it becomes a “full-on autocracy” and “democracy completely leaves us.”
Reiner made the stark warning during a discussion with MSNBC host Ali Velshi about AppleTV+’s recent postponement of “The Savant,” a new miniseries that stars Jessica Chastain as an investigator who infiltrates online extremist groups. The program’s premiere was delayed after the killing of Charlie Kirk.
The streaming giant didn’t mention Kirk in its statement, with an Apple TV+ spokesperson saying the decision came after “careful consideration.” Upon the official announcement, Chastain made it clear she was “not aligned” with Apple’s decision. “I’ve never shied away from difficult subjects, and while I wish this show wasn’t so relevant, unfortunately it is,” she wrote in a statement.
On Sunday’s “Velshi,” the host called news of the postponement “just the latest episode that illustrates the pressures that have come to bear on artists, on comedians and the entertainment industry more broadly, in this new politically fraught era.” In July, CBS announced that it would cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” next year, while ABC briefly took Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air recently.
Reiner said that the current climate in the United States has become “beyond McCarthy era-esque” and that the 1950s crackdown “feels quaint compared to what’s going on in America right now.”
The award-winning film director said the federal government’s moves to squash free speech were “just the beginning” and urged Americans to “understand our democracy is being taken away from us.”
He added: “Make no mistake: We have a year before this country becomes a full-on autocracy and democracy completely leaves us.”
Reiner said Trump’s attempts to pressure the entertainment industry are part of a larger effort by his administration to erode American democracy. He said the “two big things an autocrat needs” are “control of the media” and “military control of the streets.”
“And that’s the other thing that we’re seeing,” Reiner said, referring to the federal government’s deployment of federal agents and National Guard troops in Democratic-run cities. “So we’re in it right now, and we’re sliding downhill in a very, very fast way, and we have to find a way to stop it.” To try to help stop that slide, the actor and activist said his colleagues in Hollywood have a role to play. “I believe the way to stop it is to educate people who may not understand what democracy is. They may not know what the impact of losing it is,” he said. “We have to explain it, us storytellers have to explain to them what they’re going to wind up with if an autocrat has his way.” You can watch Velshi’s full discussion with Reiner in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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