The actor’s sober note of sanity on Sunday night was the latest courageous move from a man who seems more invested in activism than acting
At times like these, when the world teeters on the brink of several terrifying calamities at once, awards seasons can be something of a tightrope.
This weekend’s Golden Globe awards were a perfect case in point. The main criticism levelled at the ceremony so far seems to be that it didn’t adequately reflect the moment. It was all a bit 1920s Berlin, with a shimmering array of beautiful millionaires busy congratulating themselves, oblivious to the fear and exhaustion of the rest of the world.
Little wonder, then, that the only real moment of the show to go viral was a red carpet interview with Mark Ruffalo. Called over by an interviewer to explain the pin he was wearing on his tuxedo, Ruffalo explained that “I’m not feeling so great. We have a woman, Renee Good was murdered in our streets of America today … As much as I love all this, I don’t know if I can pretend like this crazy stuff isn’t happening.”
Ruffalo was far from the only attender who wore a Be Good badge to the ceremony – Jean Smart, Ariana Grande, Wanda Sykes and Natasha Lyonne all did the same – but he does seem to be one of the few figures who consistently speaks his mind on matters such as these. The “activism and political views” section of his Wikipedia page runs to 14 dense paragraphs of causes he has supported, on issues ranging from Iran to pollution to the preservation of Manhattan churches. Just this week, post-Globes, he signed a letter calling for the immediate restoration of medical care in Gaza.
