Billy Bob Thornton Criticizes Celebrity Activism and Awards Show Rants

Billy Bob Thornton says there is a time and place for celebrity activism but not at awards shows.

The 70-year-old Landman actor shared his views during an appearance on the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast. He explained that he has never used his Hollywood platform to push political or personal beliefs on others.

"I don't know anything about politics," Thornton said. "I have no idea. And the stuff that I do believe, I don't want to force it down somebody else's throat because I'm not an expert on that."

He took aim at stars who lecture on topics like saving badgers during award ceremonies. "I'm not really big on like at awards shows all of the sudden you start talking about saving the badgers and stuff," he said. "Like Ricky Gervais said, you know, it's like get your little award and f--- off, you know?"

Thornton has criticized celebrity activism before. In a November appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, he said he no longer cares about awards. "I've got plenty of them" and won most "under the wire, when awards were kind of real still," he noted. He has picked up a couple recently but now sees them as occasions for dry chicken breast, green beans and self-important speeches.

"There's a time and place for [activism]" and at award shows people should stick to accepting the honor, he said. "Don't go up there and talk about saving the badgers in Wisconsin or something, you know what I'm saying?" Some argue fame provides a platform to speak out, but Thornton countered: "Well, how about this? If you have a billion dollars, and you want to save the badgers, f---ing save them." He added that would barely dent their budget.

Last year, Thornton discussed early career hurdles in Hollywood. In a joint Fox News Digital interview with Landman co-star Sam Elliott, the Arkansas native described a certain prejudice against him when he first arrived in Los Angeles.

"It certainly makes you, at least for a period of time, stay in your wheelhouse," he said. He observed that a Bronx actor can play a Mississippian on screen, but not vice versa.

"There was a certain prejudice with southern actors for a long time," Thornton continued. He once auditioned for a student film about an Alabama man fresh off the turnip truck in California. "I said, ‘Well, I am just off the turnip truck from Arkansas.’ And it's like, ‘What do you mean?’" The directors wanted a Foghorn Leghorn cartoon rooster accent, which he had never heard growing up in the South.

Thornton said success changed everything. Once established, he could demand any role. "I could walk into Universal Studios and say I wanna play Bette Davis. And they go, ‘Oh, that sounds like a good idea.’ And then when I was coming up, I couldn't get a part as a hillbilly."