Marlow Stern of the Daily Beast, recently spoke with Oscar-winning actor, Morgan Freeman, about police brutality and the mainstream media’s coverage of the Baltimore protests, in which Freeman had some choice words for the media.
Seated across from Freeman, Stern spoke with him about his latest film, Five Flights Up. In a scene from the film, a young Muslim man’s truck has been stopped by the NYPD on a bridge. As the incident is televised, the media and public begin to wildly speculate about the cause of the stop, with most automatically assuming he must have a bomb.
“Isn’t that always happening?” Freeman said of the media’s affinity for unsubstantiated and biased reporting. “Look at MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN. Go between those three. There’s a take, there’s a take, and there’s a take. It’s just commentary. CNN wants to be pure news, but the others are just commentary. They’re just commenting on things.”
The Baltimore protests began after the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American, who died while in police custody after having succumbed to injuries inflicted to his spinal cord and larynx. Gray was arrested on April 19th, for the possession of a switchblade.
Some of the protests have turned into riots, and like circling vultures, the media has closed in on this coverage with rabid vigor. In a statement from leading journalist and African-American scholar, Ta-Nehisi Coates:
“Cameras actually distort the story. The story already happened. The story began with policy and apexed with Freddie Gray’s death. The story is simple. Gray died in state custody. Unlikely anyone will be punished. (Which explains the riots.) That’s pretty much it. The cameras aren’t actually adding to the ‘story’. They can’t really clarify the narrative.”
Freeman states that even though the Baltimore coverage is fairly biased in its focus on the rioting, it has improved when compared to its coverage of the Ferguson protests:
“Now, they’re getting more of the whole picture. Ferguson? No. Baltimore seems to be coming up with a different scenario in the background. People are saying, ‘You were not all there when we were just talking and trying to make a point, but if we set something on fire, all of a sudden you’re all here. Why is that? What’s the difference?’ And some young reporters are listening. That sort of observation is very useful.”
“The other thing is that technology lets us see behind the scenes a little bit better,” Freeman continues. “Police have a standard reaction to shooting somebody: I fear for my life and I fear for my safety. Now, at least you can see, ‘Hey, his hands were up in the air! What part of your safety were you afraid of? The guy was running away, what part of your safety was in danger?’ There was one situation I saw where a cop told a guy to get out of the car, said, ‘show me your driver’s license,’ and the guy reached back into the car and the cop shot him!”
“Anyway, off the media,” he says with a chuckle. “F#ck the media.”
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Sources:
Anti-Media Staff. The Anti-Media. Apr 30, 2015. (http://theantimedia.org/morgan-freeman-on-baltimore-coverage-fck-the-mainstream-media/)
Stern, Marlow. The Daily Beast. Apr 30, 2015. (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/30/morgan-freeman-on-baltimore-protest-coverage-f-ck-the-media.html)
Redact the switchblade part please, that was thrown in there by the police. Freddie Gray did not have a switchblade. It was a legal knife, and there was no reason for his arrest which only adds to the sorrow we all feel about his death at the hands of police. http://read.bi/1OM817B
somebody should to say to Morgan Freeman Not ALL over media it’s a damn things because some iranian person or some foreigner people going to judge the America by new on media why cops behavior is like that ? why there is a lot of Racist people about different judge
Wrong, idiot. Illegal knife. Freeman, up yours you ungrateful piece of dirt. They got what all thugs eventually get……….. got! Try that crazy rioting crap here, race mongers. Bring your thuggish punks here to Arizona. We got the holes dug already. Funny how one cop shoots a raging wild dog and the blacks go nuts, but when thousands of african american black criminals riot and act like crazed lunatics, whites just watch and feel sorry for the decent black Americans.
You are no sir you are an animal for thinking that way and don’t know any better than what you were taught which I see it wasn’t a good thing. These cops have been shooting innocent people and harassing many, not just one, idiot.
I really feel sorry for you man….your full of hate. I actually feel sorry for all the good people in th US, for having people like you in there lives.
What about the thousands of white american criminals,you´ve been robbed of freedom by WHITE AMERICANS!So shut up and don´t talk shit.
Another tough guy hiding behind a keyboard, talking shit about something you know NOTHING about. In fact, you sound like a cop to me. Fuck off.
What a typical racist prick, ignorance on full display. I can’t wait until all your kind die out; The world will be a better place.
It is sad that you can talk about our fellow humans like this James. Hope you will understand that one day.
I have lost all respect for Morgan Freeman. He’s schlepping for $hillary Clinton. Doing her commercials. Any black american who is in the Hillary camp is a fool. The Clinton’s are the reason so many are locked up currently.