The actor Tom Hiddleston is an Arsenal fan. Nothing wrong with that, of course. The club is a magnet to the north London cognoscenti, the likes of Keir Starmer. One more half-famous face is neither here nor there. No harm done. What is objectionable, though, is Hiddleston’s insistence on channeling his inner Shakespeare in homage to Arsenal on social media. Lacking all self-awareness and residing far up his own fundament (a well-known failing of actors more generally), our Tom has taken to posting bizarre motivational videos, urging Arsenal on to greater and greater glory.
Fortunate indeed are those who have not seen his peroration urging Arsenal on, just ahead of their recent Champions League final last month. The background footage features moody close-ups of Arsenal stars, with Hiddleston, in full actorly flow, saying things such as: ‘You can you can feel it now, the cacophony before kick off…’ Well, not really. The only feeling the video prompts is a desire to run screaming. Undeterred, our Tom goes on: ‘Here we are, exactly where we wanted to be…’ Hiddleston seems to be sitting in the team dressing room but it could just as easily be his bathroom. Who knows? The hammy nonsense doesn’t end there: ‘Together, over land and sea, all of us have done our part. Unbeaten. Unbowed. Dominant.’ Perhaps most ludicrous of all, amid admittedly stiff competition, was Hiddleston intimating in sonorous tones that all this is ‘rare air’. More like hot air, I would suggest. No surprise, of course, that Arsenal went on to lose the Champions League final to PSG.
