Angelina Jolie has said \u201cI don\u2019t recognise my country\u201d amid the threats to free speech in the US, saying \u201canything anywhere that divides or limits personal expressions and freedoms from anyone, I think, is very dangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n
At Spain\u2019s San Sebasti\u00e1n film festival on Sunday,<\/a> the Oscar winning actor was asked by a journalist: \u201cWhat do you fear as an artist and an American?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a very difficult question,\u201d Jolie replied. \u201cI love my country, but at this time, I don\u2019t recognise my country. I\u2019ve always lived internationally, my family is international, my friends, my life.<\/p>\n \u201cMy worldview is equal, united and international. Anything anywhere that divides or limits personal expressions and freedoms from anyone, I think, is very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cThese are such serious times that we have to be careful not to say things casually. These are very, very heavy times we are living in together.\u201d<\/p>\n While Jolie didn\u2019t name the late night host, her comments fell days after Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended \u201cindefinitely\u201d by ABC<\/a>, which is owned by Disney. Kimmel was suspended after Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, criticised comments made by the late-night host<\/a> about the aftermath of Charlie Kirk\u2019s fatal shooting, including: \u201cThe MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Jolie has appeared in several Disney projects, including Maleficent and its sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and as the superhero Thena in The Eternals, part of Disney\u2019s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).<\/p>\n Several Disney stars and prominent figures including Olivia Rodrigo, Pedro Pascal and Mark Ruffalo have voiced dissent and criticised the decision to suspend Kimmel, which the New York Times reported was made<\/a> by Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney\u2019s head of television Dana Walden.<\/p>\n Mark Ruffalo, who plays the Hulk in the MCU, wrote on Threads that Disney\u2019s stock will \u201cgo down a lot further if they cancel\u201d Kimmel\u2019s show permanently.<\/p>\n \u201cDisney does not want to be the ones that broke America,\u201d Ruffalo wrote.<\/p>\n Mark Ruffalo has said the US government \u2018is now suppressing the freedom of speech\u2019. Photograph: Darren Eagles\/Getty Images<\/p>\n And on Sunday, while speaking on a video for the anti-Trump \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest planned for 18 October, Ruffalo said<\/a>: \u201cIt is the US government that is now suppressing the freedom of speech. It is the US government, not your neighbours, not someone on social media. It is the government doing it now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s where we all have to come together, because authoritarian regimes, fascist regimes have to degrade our freedoms more and more over time until we\u2019re living the smallest, the most frightened, the most secretive lives. Think of yourselves living under the Taliban, because that\u2019s where we\u2019re headed,\u201d the actor added.<\/p>\n Pedro Pascal, who starred in Disney\u2019s Fantastic Four: First Steps this year and will appear in two major Disney films next year (The Mandalorian and Grogu and Avengers: Doomsday), wrote on Instagram<\/a> that he is \u201cstanding with\u201d Kimmel, adding: \u201cDefend #FreeSpeech Defend #DEMOCRACY.\u201d<\/p>\n Tatiana Maslany, who plays She-Hulk in the MCU, called for her followers on Instagram to \u201ccancel\u201d their Disney+ subscriptions, while Damon Lindelof, a Hollywood showrunner and creator of the ABC series Lost, pledged he would not to work with Disney+<\/a> again unless it put Kimmel back on the air.<\/p>\n \u201cI was shocked, saddened and infuriated by yesterday\u2019s suspension and look forward to it being lifted soon. If it isn\u2019t, I can\u2019t in good conscience work for the company that imposed it,\u201d Lindelof wrote on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n Olivia Rodrigo, who rose to fame on the Disney shows Bizaardvark and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, wrote that she was \u201cso upset over this blatant censorship and abuse of power\u201d and that she stood with Kimmel.<\/p>\n