Ben Stiller has bemoaned the chilling effect on comedy during Donald Trump‘s second term.
In an interview with the Radio Times magazine, the Zoolander star and Severance director said it was a challenging time for the genre he loves — and he urged comedians to stand up and be counted.
“We live in a world where taking chances with comedy is more challenging. You’re seeing that front and centre in our country,” he said.
“But I think it’s important that comedians keep doing what they’re doing, speaking truth to power and being free to say what they want. That’s the most important thing.”
Stiller’s remarks follow Disney’s brief suspension of Jimmy Kimmel over comments the late-night show host made about the death of Charlie Kirk.
Stiller was one of the many high-profile Hollywood figures to speak out against Kimmel’s hiatus from ABC, posting on X/Twitter: “This isn’t right.”
Stiller himself has resisted pressure to scrub Zoolander of a Trump cameo. During a red carpet scene in the 2001 film, Trump can be heard saying: “Without Derek Zoolander, male modelling wouldn’t be what it is today.”
“I’ve had people reach out to me and say, ‘You should edit Donald Trump out of Zoolander,’ but at the end of the day, that was a time that existed and that happened,” he said.
Stiller spoke to the Radio Times to promote his Apple TV documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, which reflects on the lives of his parents, comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.
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