<br> By <a class="c-link lrv-a-unstyle-link" href="https://variety.com/author/emiliana-betancourt/" > Emiliana Betancourt</a> <br> Oscar-winning actor <a href="https://variety.com/t/denzel-washington/" id="auto-tag_denzel-washington" data-tag="denzel-washington" >Denzel Washington</a> recently spoke out about American politics and how people need to be aware of the ongoing manipulative tactics used by both parties. <br> In an interview with<a rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/denzel-washington-gladiator-ii-interview-ls9dv88qw"> The Sunday Times,</a> editor Jonathan Dean quoted a line from <a href="https://variety.com/results/?q=gladiator%20II&size=n_10_n&sort-field=relevance&sort-direction=desc" >“Gladiator II,”</a> the upcoming Ridley Scott sequel that Washington stars in: “Empires fall, so do emperors.” Dean noted that the phrase felt relevant to the current political landscape after the election. “You know, it’s so easy to stand outside America and say this and that,” Washington said in response. “Turn around, you know? Pick a country. Any one.”<br> Washington continued, “It’s all politics. All promises unkept. And now with the information age the way it is — if anything — left, right, whatever had better learn how to use those tools to manipulate the people. There was a great line in the first movie I did, [1981’s] ‘Carbon Copy’: ‘Power to the people? Yeah, they had it once — it was called the Stone Age.’” <div class="admz" id="adm-inline-article-ad-1"> <div class="adma boomerang" data-device="Desktop" data-width="300"> <div style="min-width:50px;min-height:75px;" class="pmc-adm-boomerang-pub-div ad-text" data-priority="10" > <div id="gpt-variety-article-mid-article-uid0" class="adw-300 adh-250" data-is-adhesion-ad=""> <script type="application/javascript">
blogherads.adq.push(function () {
blogherads
.defineSlot( 'medrec', 'gpt-variety-article-mid-article-uid0' )
.setTargeting( 'pos', ["mid-article1","mid-articleX","mid","mid-article"] )
.setTargeting( ‘viewable’, ‘yes’ )
.setSubAdUnitPath(“ros/mid-article”)
.addSize([[300,250],[2,2],[300,251],[2,4],[4,2],[320,480]])
;
});
