I wish I could say I was joking but it’s true: For a good part of the day today, a 1971 interview the late actor John Wayne did with Playboy magazine was trending on Twitter.

A 1971 Playboy interview featuring John Wayne's comments on race and sexuality have stirred a fresh debate. https://t.co/0kaHoNXCGm

— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) February 19, 2019

The Mercury News write-up of the controversy described it as a “heated Twitter debate” and part of the “latest culture war…” (High drama!)

The paper also helpfully provided some excerpts:

In the Playboy interview, Wayne, fresh off his Oscar win for “True Grit,” discussed a range of topics, from working in Hollywood to race and sex. One of the more noteworthy quotes in the interview came up in a discussion about African-American political activist and academic Angela Davis.

“With a lot of blacks, there’s quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so,” Wayne said. “But we can’t all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.”

Later in the interview, Wayne also said he didn’t feel “guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago (black) people were slaves.” Wayne continued: “Now, I’m not condoning slavery. It’s just a fact of life, like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and has to wear braces so he can’t play football with the rest of us.”

A full transcript of the nearly 50-year-old interview can be read here.

This is actually one of the most well-known and controversial celebrity interviews ever done, so why exactly has it become “a thing” in 2019? Media Research Center‘s Brittany Hughes gets right to the heard of it:

Then again, perhaps the Jussie Smollett Deflection Committee could try a little harder.

Yes. As always, when the heat gets too hot, liberals must deploy the “DEFLECT! DEFLECT!” option.

With that in mind, and in no particular order, here’s my list of the top 10 responses to the liberal fauxtrage machine:

If you think John Wayne’s Playboy interview from 1971 was bad, wait til you find out what the current Governor of Virginia was doing in 1984 — and what he said in 2019.

— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) February 19, 2019

And Hillary’s husband played regularly at a whites’ only golf club in the 90s (!).

BUT JOHN WAYNE THO https://t.co/ea00sUmKa0

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) February 19, 2019

I'm glad there's no more recent racism than that interview from 1971 to get outraged about.

— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) February 19, 2019

i will no longer be working with john wayne

— my pal andy (@andylevy) February 19, 2019

John Wayne, eh? Who would have thought an interview from a 1971 edition of Playboy would contain outdated views? Is there any way we can dig up his corpse and make it apologise?

— Jonathan Pie (@JonathanPieNews) February 19, 2019

The social justice mobs are currently thought-policing a dead John Wayne for, among other things, his McCarthyism and I can’t stop laughing at how blind they are.

— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) February 19, 2019

John Wayne's comments in 1971 were so offensive. Hollywood should never give that bigot another film role ever again!

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 19, 2019

Activists Vow John Wayne Will Never Work In Hollywood Againhttps://t.co/50G00NRL50 pic.twitter.com/eA2FbFjjAj

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) February 19, 2019

John Wayne was only emboldened to say these terrible things because Donald Trump is president.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 19, 2019

If people are mad at John Wayne in 1971 Playboy, wait'll they read Bernie Sanders in 1971 Vermont Communist Carrot Farmer and Sex Fantasy News

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) February 19, 2019

(BTW, there’s more from Twitter legend @iowahawkblog on this suddenly-hot topic that Twitchy‘s Sam J. documented earlier today.)

I think the bigger question in all of this is: If John Wayne was alive today, do you think he’d be willing to learn to code – at age 111?

Errr…. probably not.

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—Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–