In a recent interview with Variety, veteran comedian and actor Kevin James made an almost non-comment that was the definition of milquetoast: that he prefers to leave political analysis to those better suited than he and focus on what people come to see him for: comedy.
James was conducting an interview as part of his promotion for his new film Solo Mio, a romantic comedy from Angel studios in which he plays an unlucky groom left at the altar in Rome. The film has so far fared well and the interview covered a number of topics, and almost passingly mentions James’ resistance to wade into politics near the very end of the article:
For now, James appears content in his corner of the entertainment ecosystem, far removed from the gloom he played up at the Super Bowl. As Hollywood grows more politically outspoken, the famously apolitical comic is sticking to what he does best.
Before providing a somewhat lengthy quote from James himself that in a saner world would have frankly gone unnoticed for its boilerplate straightforward sensibility:
“Politically, for me to speak on it, there are experts who know much more than I do,” James says. “I’m just focusing on what I can do, delivering a fun, heartfelt break from the craziness of the world. Everybody carries themselves around all day long with a lot of stress. It’s necessary in some ways, but you also need a break. You’ve got to look around and find the good in things. Otherwise, you’re just not going to function. I want to make people have fun, have hope and get a nice escape in their day.”
Honestly, how much controversy could this have stirred up? Plenty, of course. This Fox News article covering the online row details a number of comments people on social media have been posting, painting James’ as some arch-conservative for simply wishing to distance himself from politics. Buzzfeed also ran an article detailing a variety of comments from the leftist peanut gallery, and the quote eventually got the attention of the r/entertainment subreddit, where the comment thread quickly devolved into wondering what Ja Rule’s opinion of the whole thing was (he doesn’t care—he’s still beefing with Fiddy and Tony Yayo).
Now, it is true that James is a devout Catholic, having had a reversion experience after seeing The Passion of the Christ while in New York City shooting Hitch back in 2004. It’s something he’s spoken openly about with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN’s news show The World Over, and it’s actually quite a beautiful story. But I’d be willing to bet 99.9% of the reactionary dolts bobbing their heads over this like methed up parakeets are aware of this.
In all likelihood, James is probably having a good laugh at the self-important engagement pigs excitedly wagging their curly tails while eagerly guzzling down the latest morsel dropped into their trough. If there is anything to be gleaned from this non-controversy, it’s to serve as a low water mark for how utterly defanged the Cancellation Crowd has become. This is the utter jetsam they have to try to use in an effort to smear one of the few notable talents in Hollywood that has remained unmarred by scandal. All one can do is laugh.