Cancel Culture Comes for John Wayne

AP Photo
AP featured image
Actor John Wayne, making his first movie since his operation for chest cancer, lines up for lunch at a movie commissary near Durango, Mexico, January 7, 1965, where he is filming “The Sons of Katie Elder.” He displays two Mexican Chili peppers in his right hand. (AP Photo)
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Cancel culture is coming for the California airport named for the iconic actor John Wayne.

California Democrats in Orange County are pushing for the name change and they want to remove any likenesses of the actor because of racist remarks made in a Playboy interview almost 50 years ago.

They passed a resolution calling on the Orange Country Board of Supervisors to change the name condemning Wayne’s statements and asking to change name back to Orange County Airport.

From Fox News:

“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,” [….]

“I don’t feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago these people were slaves,” he said at another point in the interview.

There have been a number of pushes to rename the airport as a result of those comments after they resurfaced. Wayne’s defenders have said it is unfair to judge him based off remarks made nearly 50 years ago, and when he is no longer alive to defend or even retract them.

Pretty offensive comments, assuming they were true.

The Democrats resolution praised the “national movement” “reshaping” American institutions and monuments.

The Democratic resolution hails a “national movement to remove white supremacist symbols and names is reshaping American institutions, monuments, businesses, nonprofits, sports leagues and teams, as it is widely recognized that racist symbols produce lasting physical and psychological stress and trauma particularly to Black communities, people of color and other oppressed groups, and the removal of racist symbols provides a necessary process for communities to remember historic acts of violence and recognize victims of oppression.”

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So I have a couple of questions for these Democrats.

First, are they approving of the tearing down and vandalizing of statues like those of Washington, Jefferson, Grant and Lincoln? Do they support ripping down the statues of abolitionists? Vandalizing the monuments to WWII veterans and even black civil war veterans? Because it sure sounds like they are. Where is their condemnation of the actions of these extremist radicals? What other history do they support coming for next?

Second, so if they’re concerned about the effect of 50 year old remarks from a long dead actor, they should be very concerned about the statue of Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd in the U.S. Capitol, who was actually in the KKK. Or the present governor of Virginia who wore blackface or a KKK hood (take your pick)? Will these Democrats be advocating for taking down Byrd’s statue or renewing the call to boot Northam who’s actually still in office and having effect now? You know the answer to that.

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