It’s always been hard to pin down Bill Murray’s politics. One day he’ll be sending up Steve Bannon on SNL, the next he’ll be praising big business tax cuts on morning TV. A new interview with The Guardian moves us no closer to understanding his true thoughts on Donald Trump.
In a wide-ranging chat with Hadley Freeman, the 67-year-old comedy legend described the president as “unlike anything anyone has seen before”.
He was far more revealing with his take on Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement, however.
In 2014, the disgraced film producer revealed that Bill Murray’s laissez-fair attitude to life had spurred him on to forgive his own misdeeds. “Being a Murray-ite is a religion, where you can behave as badly as you want to people, and they still love you,” he said at the time. “I used to feel guilty about behaving badly, and then I met Bill, and it feels so much better.”
When Freeman relayed the uncomfortable quote to Murray, he spoke about a friend’s torment at the hands of Weinstein.
“Well, I think Harvey was saying something funny, and you can take something someone said a few years ago out of context, but I think that’s a funny thing he said.
“Are you asking for a comment about Harvey Weinstein? I mean, I don’t know exactly what he’s being accused of yet, but I know some of the people involved in that situation, one very sweet person, and it hurts to hear her speak about it. Really, it hurts … I feel the pain about it and the pain is not over.”
The affable actor, who has a well-documented habit of turning up uninvited to random weddings and parties, also revealed his tricks to remaining calm and enjoying life.
“My relaxation is a complete collapse of a human being. There’s certainly no backbone. It’s a dissolution of humanity is what it is. I’m nothing but compost most of the time.”
For a man who was once referred to as “the Murricaine" for his famous temper, that's clearly a philosophy worth following.
