{"id":11559,"date":"2025-07-21T19:31:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/11559\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T19:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:31:10","slug":"hollywood-star-jim-parsons-calls-out-trump-for-hurtful-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/11559\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood Star Jim Parsons Calls Out Trump for \u2018Hurtful\u2019 Move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actor Jim Parsons has openly criticized the Trump administration for one of its latest decisions.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline switched off the option<\/a> for LGBTQ youth to press a button and speak to a specialized counselor, which had been in place since 2022. <\/p>\n

In those three years, the 988 hotline has received over 16 million calls, texts and chats. Nearly 1.5 million of those were made by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, according to data<\/a> from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.<\/p>\n

\"JimActor Jim Parsons has slammed a Trump administration move. John Nacion\/Variety via Getty Images <\/p>\n

In a statement announcing<\/a> the service cut last month, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) said they will \u201cno longer silo LGB+ youth services… to focus on serving all help seekers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parsons, best known for starring in The Big Bang Theory, married<\/a> Todd Spiewak in 2017.<\/p>\n

While promoting a new documentary, Reclaiming the Flag, Parsons told MSNBC\u2019s The Weekend on Sunday he was horrified by the Trump administration ending the specialized hotline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s quite literally criminal,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the kinds of decisions that you\u2019re like, there\u2019s no good reason for it. It doesn\u2019t matter what reason you ever put towards it or say it\u2019s the reason it\u2019s happening, it\u2019s never going to be justified.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cIt is only hurtful and it feels like it\u2019s only being done in order to make a point, we\u2019re getting rid of this because we want to make sure certain people understand they\u2019re not welcome here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NEWJim Parsons and husband Todd Spiewak. Bruce Glikas\/Bruce Glikas\/WireImage <\/p>\n

Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin, who wrote the bipartisan legislation that funded the 988 hotline, said cutting services for LGBTQ youth was a political move.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have had relentless attacks on members of the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender individuals, transgender youth,\u201d Baldwin told NPR<\/a>. \u201cIn the face of those relentless political attacks on this very vulnerable community, to then cut off a lifeline is absolutely cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reclaiming the Flag, which is airing on You Tube<\/a> and was directed by Alexis Bittar, examines the LGBTQ community\u2019s relationship with the American flag.<\/p>\n

Bittar told MSNBC of the hotline cuts, \u201cI just think it\u2019s such an important tool for LGBTQ youth to be able to reach out and talk to someone on the other line.<\/p>\n

Bittar added, \u201cThe messaging is, unless you live in a metropolitan area, is you\u2019re not worthy in the eyes of God. You grow up feeling you don\u2019t belong.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the NationalSuicidePrevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor Jim Parsons has openly criticized the Trump administration for one of its latest decisions. Last Friday, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,5834,134],"class_list":["post-11559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-donald-j-trump","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}