Over the last few years, tough guy actor Alan Ritchson has made a name for himself with many center-right TV watchers with his starring role in the action series, Reacher. But this month, he has revealed that he stands squarely against the ideals and principles of his fan base.
For two seasons, Ritchson has portrayed tough guy loner Jack Reacher in Amazon Prime’s Reacher series, starring as a man who roams the country righting wrongs and beating down the bad guys. It was a role that was originated by Tome Cruise in two feature films, one in 2012 and a sequel in 2016.
The streaming show is a typical lone wolf, action-packed series, the sort that often appeals to center-right folks who are unworried over wokeness.
But with a long interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor seems to have set out to alienate his entire audience.
In the interview, the whiny actor admitted that he once tried to commit suicide — with his kids and wife in the house — when his little film project plan was faltering, he went on to say Christians are being hypocrites for voting for “rapist” Donald Trump, attacked the Church as full of “pedophiles,” and then ended his little confessional attacking cops because they “get away with murder all the time.”
In The Hollywood Reporter interview, Ritchson was asked about his Instagram post from 2020 in which he wore a shirt calling for the arrest of the police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor in Kentucky.
When asked about the message on the short, he replied, “That was a tragic case,” adding, “Cops get away with murder all the time, and the fact that we can’t really hold them accountable for their improprieties is disturbing to me.”
“We should completely reform the way that we do it. I mean, you shouldn’t have to spend more time getting an education as a hairstylist than as a cop who’s armed with a deadly weapon,” he added. “We should make it very hard for people to make mistakes or abuse power in our institutions.”
His absurd proclamation about lawless police drew fire. The Fraternal Order of Police organization, for one, blasted Ritchson.
“While Mr. Ritchson gets his face and forehead powdered on set, our officers are out doing a job he doesn’t have the courage to do,” the organization wrote on Instagram. “While he gets to hear loud pops and have blanks fired at him, our officers feel the heat of the bullets as they pierce their skin.”
“There are no take two’s or take three’s in real life Mr. Ritchson. We have people who want to kill us and we play for keeps. Just another useless Hollywood actor, virtue signaling for attention at the expense of brave police officers around this country,” the post continued.
Go back to your pampered life and let the heroes handle this,” the FOP concluded.
But the pampered star doubled down, and launched a counter attack on the police.
“This kind of emotionally immature response is the epitome of what concerns me about law enforcement today,” wrote the actor, as he proceeded to declare, “If this is how leadership handles a peaceful disagreement, what does life look like for those unseen interactions in the street?”
Ritchson inquired, “How does this shape the character of those police officers looking to management? Do you really want individuals so easily angered, who bully like school children to have a gun and the protection of an untouchable union? I don’t.”
“To [Fraternal Order of Police] : You belittle me for being incapable of demonstrating bravery, but I believe that’s exactly what I’ve shown,” the actor argued. “You’ve haplessly fired multiple shots at me simply because I have called for more accountability.”
He then stated, “I did this knowing people like you who crave a pat on the back and zero accountability would criticize me. Standing up to impossibly large institutions takes courage. I’ve never been a fan of blind allegiance which is dangerous and fertile ground for fascism, a political persuasion I’m averse to.”
“I also believe two truths can be held at the same time,” Ritchson claimed. “There are absolutely many good and brave cops who deserve the public’s gratitude and certainly have mine.”
“Simultaneously, it is true that there are rogue or ill-equipped officers who remind us that we need higher barriers to entry and stricter regulations so abuses are relegated to the past. Both can be and are true.”
“To only seek praise and ignore this need is extremely unwise and endangers those at risk of being ostracized and marginalized – which is who I was referring to in my Hollywood Reporter article.” he decried, as he proceeded to call out Governor Ron DeSantis’ bill that criminalizes harassment of first responders on duty.
“To make matters worse, in Florida, voters perpetuate these issues by continuing to support people like Gov. Desantis who just passed a law making it illegal for anyone other than the police to police themselves,” Ritchson condemned. “This, lack of transparency would be laughable if not so deadly.”
“I’m certain efforts like these take us further from the world I hope to leave for my children, which is one with extreme prudence when deciding who we arm and a glass house for public institutions. Especially ones with the ability to end lives. So, thank you for your service and yes… I do think like that,” the actor concluded.
Mr. (P)Reacher, there has no idea what he is rambling about.
Firstly, it is a myth that cops go around killing everyone they meet all day long. Just as an example, in 2019, police officers shot and killed 1,0004 during the performance of their duties. And only about 1/4 of those shootings resulted in a dead black man. But this was out of over three million police encounters with the public that year. As you can see, the number of shootings is tiny by comparison with the number of encounters they performed.
Clearly, police officers are not going around and shooting people down “all the time.”
So, Ritchson is either a liar, or too stupid to search out the facts on how “police get away with murder all the time.”
Either way, if conservatives and those on the center-right have any sense, they will abandon their fandom for Alan Ritchson.
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