Denzel Washington Says People “Better Realize You’re Being Manipulated by Both” Political Sides

Denzel Washington is sharing his thoughts on the current political landscape in the United States.

The two-time Oscar-winning actor, who stars in Ridley Scott’s upcoming Gladiator II, was recently asked about the 2024 presidential election, which saw Donald Trump defeat Kamala Harris earlier this month. During his interview with The Sunday Times, editor Jonathan Dean also noted a specific line in Gladiator II that felt timely given the election: “Empires fall, so do emperors.”

“You know, it’s so easy to stand outside America and say this and that,” Washington, 69, said in response. “Turn around, you know? Pick a country. Any one.”

“But listen,” the Training Day actor continued. “It’s all politics. All promises unkept. And now with the information age the way it is — if anything — left, right, whatever had better learn how to use those tools to manipulate the people. There was a great line in the first movie I did, [1981’s] Carbon Copy: ‘Power to the people? Yeah, they had it once — it was called the Stone Age.’”

“We’re all slaves to information now. We really are. We’re all slaves. So whatever you feel about the leaders, like this guy’s crazy or the other one is sane, you’d better realize you’re being manipulated by both sides. Period,” Washington added. “Yeah. So go to the movies.”

The Equalizer 3 star has previously been open about urging people to “open our eyes” and hold elected officials in office accountable.

“I think we, as Americans, need to unite and to hold all of our elected officials’ feet to the fire as it relates to working together,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, during which Trump was serving his first term as president. “We need to demand that they work together through our vote, that they work together to come up with solutions.”

Elsewhere during his interview with The Sunday Times, Washington also looked back at his career, admitting that not all of his movies were hits.

“After [1992’s] Malcolm X I made some real clunkers. Look them up — I won’t say their names,” Washington said. “They are all in the 1990s. But I was earning. I had responsibilities.”

While the actor didn’t specify which of his films he considered “clunkers,” some of the movies he starred in during that decade included Crimson Tide, Virtuosity, Much Ado About Nothing, He Got Game, The Pelican Brief, Devil in a Blue Dress,The Preacher’s Wife, Fallen and The Bone Collector, among others.

But Washington noted that he was prouder of his projects in the 2000s, which included Remember the Titans and Training Day.

“So, 2000 …” he pondered. “Well, in life, you learn, earn and then you return — as in give back. So if your life is 90 years long, up until 30 you learn and from 30 to 60 you earn. So in that era I was earning. With a great agent, my career built into making money and so the earning kicked in and then life also kicked in, with bills, four kids and a house.”