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Ben Stiller ‘wishes he was black’ as he whips up votes for Kamala

August 7, 2024 | | Print Article

Stumping for the Democratic ticket had actor Ben Stiller naming the one identity he and “Every white Jewish guy wishes” they were.

When he wasn’t voicing excitement for gun grabbing and for his children to have the opportunity to kill his unborn grandchildren, the “Zoolander” star’s fawning for Vice President Kamala Harris centered around the idea of who she was rather than policy. But it was how he ended his turn on Monday’s “Comics for Kamala” call that really raised eyebrows as Stiller expressed, “I wish I was black.”

Treated like a virtual open mic, the likes of Ed Helms, Jason Bateman, Whoopi Goldberg, Nick Offerman, Rosie O’Donnell, Cecily Strong, and D.L. Hughley joined host Paul Mercurio for the latest celebrity-centered effort to convince Americans struggling under the administration’s economic policies to turn over their cash to double down.

For Stiller, this included a considerable amount of identity politics where he said, “And she’s also a historic candidate. It’s gonna be the first woman president, and that’s incredibly exciting. And, you know, she’s Indian, she’s black, she’s everything. You can be more than one thing. It’s incredible. You know, I’m Jewish and Irish. I wish I was black. Every white Jewish guy wishes he was black.”

Having committed a $150,000 match for the event Deadline reported had been put together by California Rep. Eric Swalwell (D), the “Tropic Thunder” actor peddled the astroturf momentum as he had said, “You know, I’m so genuinely excited about the potential to actually win this election, what’s happened in the last couple of weeks, just the turning of the tide, and that Vice President Harris can actually win this thing if we all just rally around and really take advantage of this incredible energy that’s happening.”

“You know, I just want…a decent person in the White House, you know, a person who cares about democracy more than themselves, who doesn’t lie, who’s not fomenting anger and rage, someone who cares about people,” said Stiller. “And that’s what Kamala Harris is. She’s like a human being. She acts like a human being, and she has empathy, and she has humor, and it’s beautiful when she laughs because she’s a real person who is reacting to things. And I believe in everything that she’s, you know, standing up for.”

Aside from abortion and the erosion of the Second Amendment, the actor’s spiel was much like Harris’ own campaign website, devoid of actual policy positions as it attempted to sell her to voters.

That didn’t stop users on social media from filling in the gaps for the “shallow” celebrities while also shaming Stiller in particular for his line about race that suggested, “He’s just mad he didn’t get Robert Downey Jr.’s role in Tropic Thunder.”

Kevin Haggerty
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