Charlize Theron recently became part of the elite group of Hollywood actors who have publicly considered leaving the United States because they don’t like the president, or because the country’s previously unrealized dark side has been exposed.
In an interview with Chelsea Handler published by Elle last week, Theron offered some analysis of “our current climate” and what she might do as a response to it:
Being raised during the apartheid era in South Africa made me so hyperaware of equality and human rights. Of course, I have two black kids, but that was always something I was passionate about. I don’t even know how to talk about the last year under our new administration. But racism is much more alive and well than people thought. We can’t deny it anymore. We have to be vocal. There are places in this country where, if I got a job, I wouldn’t take it. I wouldn’t travel with my kids to some parts of America, and that’s really problematic. There are a lot of times when I look at my kids and I’m like, If this continues, I might have to [leave America]. Because the last thing I want is for my children to feel unsafe.
Theron was tied with Emma Watson as the 6th highest paid actress of 2017, making $14 million. She and her children are extremely privileged. She can assure special protections for her children that 98 percent of Americans can’t, and yet she “might have to leave” so that her children feel safe.
Theron’s analysis of the administration and the current climate is highly debatable, but she nevertheless expresses a view shared by millions of non-millionaire Americans.
Her remedy, however, is elitism in its grossest manifestation.
If you’re rich, you can just flee your problems. That’s what Theron communicates.
It’s hard to tell how seriously Theron is actually considering leaving America, but even entertaining the notion demonstrates how insulated she is from normal life and how removed she is willing to be from solving the problems that she poses.
@jeremywbeaman is a contributing writer for Yellowhammer News
