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Oct. 4, 2020 - The Ben Shapiro Show
01:05:35
Jon Voight | The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special Ep. 101
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Time Text
End of the war, when we pulled out of Vietnam, two and a half million people were killed.
It was people trying to cling to helicopters to hold on to their lives.
And I saw that, and I was shocked.
Because they showed me what communism was.
The winner is... John Boyd in Coming Home!
Four-time Oscar nominee, winner of one of those, 11-time Golden Globe nominee with four wins, star of Mission Impossible, Heat, Deliverance, Coming Home, Midnight Cowboy, and so many other classic movies, John Boyd is no question one of the Hollywood greats.
An iconic actor, wide acclaimed, tons of memorable characters.
And he happens to be one of the most outspoken conservatives and Trump supporters in all of the entertainment industry.
But that wasn't always the case.
As he was finding prominence in movies in the late 60s and early 70s, John found himself echoing the beliefs held by the majority of the liberal Hollywood circle.
In particular, he was actively marching and speaking out against the Vietnam War as a young man with newfound clout.
Make love, not war.
That's a message nearly anybody could get behind.
But something changed as John began to see the Marxist intentions behind the anti-war activism.
John began to realize he didn't stand for the things Hollywood was, by and large, selling.
In our show, we'll get into how, in 2020, we're living through another Marxist movement infiltrating American thought and society, one very similar to what John experienced firsthand in the 70s.
Plus, John tells us about his big break that launched him into the Hollywood limelight, his advice for conservatives trying to make it in Tinseltown, and his thoughts on the new WOKE Academy Award stipulations.
Hey, hey, and welcome.
This is the Ben Shapiro Show Sunday special.
Just a reminder, we'll be doing some bonus questions at the end with John.
The only way to get access to that part of the conversation is to become a member.
Head on over to dailywire.com, become a member.
You'll have access to all of the full conversations with every one of our awesome guests.
John Voigt, thanks so much for showing up.
Really appreciate it.
Oh, this is amazing.
Even watching you do that is an amazing thing.
I'm very excited to be here.
If that excited you, get ready because this is going to blow your mind.
So let's start with some Hollywood questions because we'll get to politics a little bit.
Now let me ask you a question.
Do you change your personality when you do this show?
I don't think so.
I might be a little bit less wild than I am normally.
Less wild?
Yeah.
Holy smoke.
I know, I'm basically dead when I do this show.
Well, you're fantastic.
You turn something on.
When I hear action, I usually calm down.
I don't go with the same steam that the director has when he says, action!
That's because you're a good actor.
Whereas I'm a terrible, terrible actor.
So for me, I act like a squirrel on Ritalin.
In any case, let's talk about how you got into acting in the first place, because everybody sort of has a different story as to how they got into that particular area of the industry.
How did you get into acting?
Well, when I was a little kid, three years old, and you have three kids, I started painting and drawing when I was three.
And that was my That was my whole focus.
I loved it.
I had papers all over the house.
My parents were very tolerant.
You had to walk over these paintings and drawings.
And I did that for a couple of years.
And then I saw movies with my father and my two brothers.
I was the middle of three boys, a year apart.
And we saw movies.
And that was when I was five.
And when I was six, I retired from painting and drawing because I realized this new media made my stuff, two-dimensional art, obsolete in my mind, right?
And I really, when I say retired, I had the sadness of it, you know?
An emptiness, in a way.
And I kept drawing and doing things for people's favors and stuff for school and all of that, but I'd lost my real connection.
And I didn't think that I would ever be part of this world of film.
But I was a fun kid, you know, I was playful, liked making people laugh, and I followed my dad's lead.
He was a golf professional, and he loved, he had a wonderful sense of humor, and he loved Sid Caesar.
You know, different things that he focused on, and I fell in love with Sid Caesar's work, and Imogen Koch, and you know, Carl Reiner, and those guys.
And I used to imitate Sid's characters at school.
And I got attention for it, you know.
Enough that they asked me to do the comedy lead in a show in the sixth grade.
And I took it very seriously.
And looking back, I did a lot of sophisticated things at that time that would have indicated that I would have gone on.
But I was playing golf.
My dad had taught me golf.
I loved all athletics, and I loved horsing around, and I had a lot of fun, you know?
And I didn't take anything too seriously.
Then in high school again, and then in college.
Every year of college, the first three years of college, I was always asking mostly gals What do you think I should do when I get out of college?
And in college I was very active in, I was taking art because I knew I could get through it and I was the president of the class, president of the fraternity, very active writing things for the newspaper.
I was walking through campus when I came back just before my senior year and I looked at the book that I had in my hand and it was a book of criticism of acting of the British actors, the great British actors, by Kenneth Tynan.
And there's all these reviews and I had marked all of Laurence Olivier's Heroic roles.
And Kenneth Tyner loved him so he was very romantic about Laurence Olivier and described everything that he did.
And I understood what Olivier was doing in creating those roles, how he illuminated things in the story by the way he chose to do the roles, the character acting.
And I looked at it and I said to myself, and I actually said it I think even verbally, I said, I know what I want to do.
I want to be him.
I want to be him.
I looked very young when I was young.
Blonde hair and tall, thin fella.
And I knew I wasn't going to be mature for a while to do certain kinds of roles.
But from that moment I knew I was going to go to New York and start school all over again trying to learn a few things and get into acting.
And I knew at that moment that I wasn't going to quit.
I was going to stay with it.
It's funny things that you remember, you know?
And sure enough I had my ups and downs but I was very fortunate to have the career I have.
So I want to ask you how the big break happened where you went from being a guy in college who wanted to act to, you know, being an Oscar winner and multiple Oscar nominee and all of this.
I'm going to ask you about that in just one second.
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Okay, so you decide that acting is what you want to do and you go to New York.
A lot of people end up going to New York thinking that this is what they're going to do and then, you know, washing dishes three years later.
So how does the big break happen where you don't end up washing dishes in New York?
Well, I did a little stuff to earn a living, you know, trying to help my dad out.
I wasn't very good at it.
I had to lean on my father a lot.
But I was fortunate enough to gain entrance into Sandy Meisner's professional class.
And in that, I learned some basics.
I was very unsure because I had gone to a rather bad teacher prior, who was full of himself and didn't really know what he was talking about.
But, you know, teachers have so much control over their students.
And, you know, you're glued to every word.
And then I realized this guy wasn't taking me anywhere.
And I found my way to Sandy Meisner, and Sandy gave me a structure that I really deeply needed.
And I spent two years going to every class, twice a week.
And at the end of that time I came out thinking, look, now I have to go to work here.
And I was doing other jobs and stuff, but I always found a way to get to class.
And then I was very fortunate to get a part in A View from the Bridge with Bobby Duvall as the lead.
And it was an Arthur Miller play, a great Arthur Miller play.
And I was very celebrated in that part of Rodolfo in A View from the Bridge.
And I felt, okay, yeah, I can do dramatic acting.
I'm no more fooling around.
And then that led, finally, to me getting Midnight Cowboy because I met Dustin Hoffman there.
We became friends, in a way.
And when I read Midnight Cowboy, sent him the book, I was probably one of 20 people who sent him the book because the character was so...
possible for him, you know.
And his work in The Graduate, his success, his celebrity made it possible to make Midnight Cowboy and eventually after screen test and stuff like that I was able to get that role and that was the beginning.
And I worked with all, I never, one moment of it Uh, was unappreciative of the break that I had been given and the wonderful circumstance of working with these very, very talented people.
And Dustin, of course, was at the top of the list, too.
So, actors prepare for parts in different ways, obviously.
What's the way that you prepare for a part?
You get a script, you've decided you want to do it.
Now, how do you prepare to get another part?
Well, I asked you, Ben.
I asked you.
The first time, when I spoke to Ben prior to just doing this, I asked Ben if he had a photographic memory because his...
He's amazing.
Ben is amazing.
We'll talk about him later.
But I asked if he had a photographic memory.
I don't.
I don't have a photographic memory.
And it's hard for me to learn words easily.
I have to get into the character somehow.
I have to believe in it a little bit, you know?
And I find that going over the words and testing the words and improvising and playing, that's how I get to the part.
And if I had a photographic memory, as many do, I probably would miss out on a lot of insights on my way to performing the role.
So it gives me time to marinate and digest and then produce whatever I have done.
How much of it is spontaneous and how much of it is prepared?
I've always wondered this when you watch somebody on film.
It's all prepared in some way, but the real, really wonderful performances, the great performances, in my estimation, come from people who have that danger.
They're doing it for the first time in some way, they're improvising something, you see?
So, when I go on a set, I try to say, I have a little phrase that I use actually, and I I'm just there.
It's almost a challenge to see if I'll do anything.
What's the phrase?
No, I can't tell you.
It's just any way of just saying, I don't give a damn.
So I get up there, and then it's all fresh.
Every take, I'm looking for what's there.
And not preparing to do it a certain way.
Now, understand, I've gone through many, many different thoughts about it and played with it many times before.
So when I get up, I've tried a lot of avenues.
So a lot of avenues are open.
I've closed off nothing, finally, when I get to it.
But I know how this character speaks.
I know what he feels about this particular thing.
I know who I'm talking to if I'm going to use other people in my life and my own life experiences and stuff like that.
And many, many techniques.
I think all of them are worthwhile.
But finally, that little edge that you have when you're really listening and really at risk in a sequence, that's when the best acting comes.
So the parts you've played are incredibly diverse.
I mean, you've played everything from hero to villain and everything in between.
So what are the favorite parts that you've played?
What's your favorite stuff you've done?
Well, I think that all the ones that are successful are dear to me, really.
Midnight Cowboy, that character, that came a long way.
I mean, that was very, very interesting.
I got that part because I had an insight into that role by the time I did the screen test, because I'd read the book and I'd thought about it a lot.
And I got the role because I was talking to John Schlesinger.
He said, oh, John, well, you're an interesting young man, and I'll tell you what we're going to do.
They had three people.
We have three people.
We're quite interested in one of them.
I am.
And I'd like you to spend some time with our writer, Waldo Salt.
He's a lovely fellow.
And if he thinks you're interesting enough, we'll open up and make another Birth in the Screen Test.
I said, well I couldn't be happier, you know, and more grateful.
I'm delighted I'll meet Waldo Salk.
I pursued that character.
Because I knew that if someone took that character and had any vanity associated with the role, if they wanted to be cool, let's say, at that time, you see this is the end of the 60s, they wanted to be attractive, you know, lose the part.
I said, this fellow is lonely, he's so insecure, he doesn't know Who he is exactly.
And he's trying to find a place for himself in society.
And he's trying to, you know, what people have told him about him, you know, I'm a really good lover and, you know, all that stuff.
He's trying to, that's the energy.
He's really at risk in every scene.
And that loneliness will provide a lot of humor.
And it will also touch your heart.
That's what I said.
And he liked that idea.
He said, that's exactly right, John.
He said, well, that's all to me.
And so he recommended that I do the screen test.
And subsequently, I did it.
And then I'll tell you this little thing.
My screen test came down to two people.
One was eliminated right away, the one that was the front runner, let's say, according to what they told me.
And then it came down to myself and a very good actor named Michael Sarazin.
And Michael had just gotten a big role with George C. Scott that was coming out pretty soon.
So he was more of, they had more capital in his corner.
And they were looking at our screen test back and forth.
And at one point, Dustin Hoffman was asked to Look at the screen test.
Now Dusty was a fellow who I knew very well and liked very much.
He saw me do that work on View from the Bridge.
And then he became a big success with The Graduate.
And I had never seen him act.
We just came to help out the director on View from the Bridge.
So anyway, he saw the screen test and apparently they asked him, Dusty, what do you think?
And he said, well, When I look at Michael Saracen's screen test, I'm looking at me.
When I look at Jon Voight's screen test, I'm looking at Jon.
And I told Dusty to check to see if it was real, you know?
Because these stories, everything gets, you know, many stories get shaped out of something like that.
And he said, he said, oh, that's good.
Well, obviously the story with Dusty, he was a joy to work with.
We had a lot of fun.
We improvised all the time.
remember it. So, so anyway, that's how it happened for me.
You've worked with some of the biggest actors in Hollywood because you are one of the biggest actors in Hollywood. So who are your favorites to work with on a personal level?
Well, obviously, the story with Dusty, he was a joy to work with. We had a lot of fun. We improvised all the time. We improvised a lot of stuff in the film. We were on the same level We know how to feed each other.
And that doesn't happen all the time.
You know, chemistry, you talk about chemistry in our business, and it's a magical aspect.
Do they have chemistry?
And I've been very fortunate because I've had chemistry with a lot of wonderful people.
So if I go through the list of the things that I've done, I have to say, Thank God that actor was there, you know, like Burt Reynolds in DELIVERANCE or Jane Fondon in COMING HOME, Ricky Schroeder in THE CHAMP and Eric Roberts in RUNAWAY TRAIN.
Those are the early ones and then later on I worked with great people like Shia LaBeouf in HOLES.
J-Lo and Anaconda and stuff like that.
But when they're right for a role, when someone's right, they have a certain energy.
If I was miscast...
In a film.
I could damage a film for being miscast.
Sometimes my ego tells me I can do almost anything but I can't.
I'd be wrong for certain things.
So I'm very grateful for the roles that I'm able to deliver and very grateful for those people who come and light it up so that I can do good work.
So how do you pick scripts?
I mean, I'm sure you've been receiving thousands of scripts a year for every year of your career.
Well, not so much that, but something has to touch me in a script.
I have to sense a truth in it.
And I can be way off, but I sense something I want to say in the script.
There has to be something.
And if it isn't there, I try to make it there.
You know what I mean?
Because if somebody's saying, well, this love is coming towards you, you'd take the role and do what you can with it to help them out and do this piece.
And so I have a reputation of really taking a deep interest in the script.
And that's right, I do.
I want it to say something that I can live with.
Do you have any near misses?
Things that you consider doing past that time?
No, I don't.
No, everything was perfect.
No, the ones that didn't work out so well, I don't really, they're like children, you know, you're rooting for all the children and you didn't quite make it or whatever, but not so many.
You know, I've done pretty well.
And the ones that I was offered that I didn't do, I'll give you an example.
I'll say, what would be a part that you don't think you're quite right for?
They offered me Love Story and I said to them, when they offered it to me, I was, you know, one of the hot actors at the time and could get something done.
And Ali McGraw was going to do it and I said, no, I can't take this role.
I said, I'll ruin it.
I'll make it too complicated.
They said, what you want is a simple, all-American guy, really decent, good guy and that's it, you know, and somebody who can deliver that.
That's what happened.
They got a great actor to do that one.
So let's turn to politics now, and politics in Hollywood.
So you're obviously one of the most outspoken conservatives in Hollywood.
Yes, you've noticed that.
I have.
You noticed that early on.
Yeah, I know.
It took us 20 minutes to get there, but eventually I came around.
So how did you first discover, number one, that you even were conservative?
Because being in the arts, that's not a typical thing.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, you know, when I talked about going to school with Sandy Meisner and learning to act, it was the 60s.
The 60s was a huge time.
Great chaos, great disturbance, and what was going on at that time was in many parts caused by the death of John Kennedy.
I have been quoted as saying that America was traumatized by that.
And I believe we were in some way.
And there were forces at work to try to bring down this country internally.
No one was alert to it.
Most people were not alert to it.
And I'm talking about Russia.
Cold War with Russia.
What did that mean?
It was a war.
And what were their tools?
What was their weapon in that war?
We had the atomic bomb.
That gave people pause with us.
And we used it wisely, that energy.
To warn people off.
But what we didn't see was the techniques that they employed to undermine our country, to destabilize our country.
And techniques, it's a list of things that they intended to do.
And they had had practice because they certainly turned around Eastern Europe.
North Korea, Vietnam, and eventually South Vietnam as well, they had these techniques that were at work.
Cuba.
And those same techniques were being used, employed here.
So, all of a sudden, this chaos erupted, and all of a sudden, all of this came to the surface.
There were people talking in a way they hadn't talked about America before.
And everything was negative.
And a list of negative things.
America's this, America's doing this, America's... And these were planted in our society.
And you know when you say, make love not war, right?
That was a plant from this worm that was put into our system.
There was the Frankfurt School that came in.
You know all of this stuff.
You're educated about it.
And most of the people were just saying, well, it's easy to be critical of people.
Once you are critical, You know, it sticks to you in a certain way.
If I said, well Ben Shapiro is an egomaniac, and you know what I mean, he's cheap too.
Boom.
Somebody will hold on to that, you know?
And that'll be your definition until you're somehow proven wrong.
Do you see?
People like to know stuff.
You know what I mean?
That's why so much of the television today is critical.
Everything's negative, negative, negative.
Because it sells in some sense.
Anyway.
And this society that we have is this free society.
What an amazing thing.
Freedom.
Freedom to speak.
Now we're having problems with that today, as we know in our schools and stuff.
You're not allowed to say this and that, do you see what I mean?
You're not allowed to really express yourself without endangering yourself, do you see?
And you know that very well, you know.
Anyway, that's what was happening at that time in our society, and we were unaware of it.
Because of the freedoms that we offered, people who were enemies of our country could find a way to the media, to Hollywood, to our universities.
They could speak at our universities.
Freedom!
And so we had people who were looking to undermine and destroy our society that had a connection to the young people.
And so we have the 60s, what is it?
Sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
How wonderful that is, huh?
You're gonna raise a kid on that?
And that's what was going on.
And this was, I say this was planted.
This stuff was planted.
So it was a chaotic time.
And I was just, I was pulled along with it.
They had marches against the war, right?
They focused on the war.
This is a way we can do it.
The war.
You know, America's imperialist.
Who was imperialist?
Communists were trying to move in to then take over that country.
And I came, after I had some success, especially, a lot of people were focused on me.
They wanted to, John, would you come and say a word or this, meet so-and-so, or whatever it is.
And some of those characters were pretty charismatic characters, too.
Like Abby Hoffman, for instance, who I knew.
I was introduced to him, you know?
And Abby was a very talented guy, but he was drug-filled and he was in the wrong, he was set in the wrong frame.
But he was very charismatic, nice to be with, interesting, very bright.
So he was a torpedo, you know?
Anyway, so I was caught up in that a little bit.
And especially because the people, the young people in this industry, when I got there, were all, you know, deeply on the left.
And I went on a march or so to Washington.
I went on one of the marches to Washington against the war.
Everyone knew that that march was organized by the American Communist Party.
I did.
And I didn't even think about it.
I said, oh well, this is, you know, they're good at organizing or something.
What?
You know, I didn't put things together.
And I think, and that's the way it is, you know.
You're not thinking in any depth about these things.
At least I wasn't.
What was my focus?
I wanted to get a job.
I wanted to work in Hollywood.
I wanted to be one of those guys that was, you know, the continuance of Cary Grant and Gary Cooper and those guys.
Right?
That's what I was thinking.
And I was very aware of the world cinema and all of that.
And that was very romantic to me, all of it.
But anyway, I was not paying a whole lot of attention to what really was coming down, and I didn't have the tools to understand it.
And then, what happened to me was, end of the war, when we pulled out of Vietnam, two and a half million people were killed in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
There was so much bloodshed.
It was a horror.
It was people trying to cling to helicopters to hold on to their lives.
And I saw that and I was shocked, you know, because they showed me what communism was.
These people who were in desperate need, the people, the boat people, trying to save their lives and their families.
And that we had pulled out and we were the only thing holding that bloodshed back that wall of terror.
I felt that deeply.
And I also saw most of the people who were my fellow people on the left walk away from that, not even give it a second thought.
And that got to me.
Disturbed me.
And I remember Joan Baez had an article in the paper, took out one page of the paper to say what was going on in these countries and how much destruction and horror there was for these people and how no one was taken care of, no one cared.
She was right.
And I identified with that.
I said, that's me too.
I don't like this.
But it took me a long while, because propaganda, it's scientifically developed to infiltrate your psyche, and it's hard to get rid of it.
Negativity has a special connection, magnetism.
You know, as I said, if you say something negative, You know, it has a draw.
That day that I read that paper and that day that I saw those statistics wasn't the end of it for me.
I tried to, you know, to see where I'd gone wrong.
And little by little, and with the help of many good people, I have to say, I came around to understanding.
Now, what do I say about today to those guys today in Hollywood who are just like me, coming in, naive, who wanted their careers to, you know, they want that beautiful career, they want that golden statue, they want, you know, the celebrity that comes with it, they want the money.
And they're getting a lot of money because they're very talented, you see?
What do I say to them?
I say, this is a serious time, fellas.
I say, pay attention.
Find the truth.
Listen to the ones who are doing the deep work like a Ben Shapiro.
Listen to these people who are trying to warn you and are trying to educate you and bring you forth.
Our country is a special country, very special in the history of the world.
When our forefathers came up with that Declaration of Independence and those wonderful words, this was a shockwave throughout the world.
This changed the whole perspective of leadership and government.
Protect this country.
When people say, from Cuba, you want to know, if you guys want to know, I say that to you, if you guys want to know what's going on now and what the stakes are, talk to somebody who's from Cuba, from Poland, from these places where this horror has been inserted into their countries.
Talk to them.
They'll open your eyes to what's going on.
It's the same thing that's happening here.
The people from Cuba heard the same words.
These people that are talking, these people are Marxists right now.
These are Marxists.
This is a Marxist movement, guys.
Black Lives Matter is a Marxist movement.
They admit it.
The founders say, we're Marxists.
We're trained Marxists.
And these people who say they're community organizers, they're agitators, and they're trained, and they're clever.
Some of them very gifted people.
Know what's going on.
Seek the truth.
Look at the facts.
Look at the facts.
While you're running around doing all these other things, it's easy to pay attention to all the little things.
Oh, what dress am I going to wear?
Or what so-and-so?
Maybe I should go on his show.
Start looking at what's going on in our country.
Be responsible.
This is your country.
Be a citizen of this country.
Be a responsible citizen.
Know what's going on.
I'm going to ask you about the blowback that you've gotten in Hollywood for all of this because Hollywood conservatives don't exactly have it easy in this particular town.
No, they don't.
So I'm going to ask you about that in just one second.
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All right, so let's talk about your experiences in Hollywood as an out-and-out conservative.
I wrote an entire book about how difficult it is to be conservative in Hollywood.
I interviewed a bunch of people in Hollywood who basically admitted to discriminating against conservatives.
Many top-name actors and directors and producers who said that they literally would not hire conservatives if they came across them, or that if their entire writing room was staffed by That's just because the most talented people, of course, are always on the left.
So what sort of treatment have you gotten in Hollywood now that you are so overtly conservative and of course pro-President Trump as well?
I know that I don't get certain work or attention because of who I am and what I stand for.
But I think that it doesn't affect me at all.
I mean, because if you know something is right, you know?
And especially, I'm gonna say especially this for me, to be on the right side, to be for something that's good.
Like, let's just say, to do something for other people.
If somebody said, you gotta think of yourself, you can't do anything for other people.
I know that that's not the truth.
You can't pull me away from that.
No matter what slander they level at me, I'm going to feel good about myself when I help other people.
And that's where I stand.
I feel good about myself.
So none of that really gets to me.
I know that when this life ends, I want to be able to say I did the best I could with this life.
And in order to do that, my standards are very high.
Very high.
When people say, when they talk about a great person, I heard this just yesterday, they talk about the sculpture of a great person, what is the most important element of that description.
What makes a great person?
And the greatest people, the greatest people, we're talking about another level here, we're talking about the greatest people, are humble.
We talked about a person who was humble, humility, and how that humility showed itself in this life.
We're talking about Moses actually, right?
The most humble man who ever lived, someone said, right?
And That's the area I'm dealing with.
I'm competing on that level.
So, I want to be the best human being I can be.
And as I get older, the best example, because people are looking up to you.
What's your advice for young actors?
I get this question a lot because I've written books about this and because I hang out with a lot of Hollywood people.
You're a young actor.
You're from not L.A.
You want to come out here.
You want to be a star, but you're conservative.
What do you do?
Do you hide that?
Do you sort of keep it under the table?
Well, right now we have an election coming up.
out out and proud because and I'll be honest what I've said is that everybody I know in Hollywood who's very prominent became conservative after they were very prominent.
I've yet to meet somebody who was openly conservative when they started in Hollywood.
And then right now, right now we have an election coming up.
Right now, stakes are very high.
The country needs us now.
Anybody who understands the value of this country and the battle that's going on to bring it down has to do whatever they can to contribute to Donald Trump's victory and to our country being able to Revive.
Renew itself.
It's a tremendous moment in history.
And I would say everybody should do everything they can.
Now, does that mean that I'm not trying to tell people how to get a job?
I'm not interested in that really at the moment.
I'm saying do what you can.
And if you can get a wonderful role and be an influence to other people, that's a wonderful thing.
And yet you can't discard your integrity.
You know, you have to bring that along somehow.
You have to care for your integrity as well.
So there's many actors, very, very prominent actors now, who are quietly doing their thing.
They're successful.
They don't have to come out and speak like I do.
I'm doing that for other people.
Do you know what I'm saying?
I'm kind of putting myself up and saying, just step back, fellas.
I'll take care of that.
Do you know?
But everyone must do something.
Where do you think the future of the industry is, given how far left the industry itself is moving?
We had this announcement in the past few weeks that the Academy Awards is now only going to be looking at staffing of particular films, certain percentages of black or gay or Hispanic or women, that the plotline has to revolve around one of these minority groups.
One of these criteria has to be applied, which, you know, basically rules out nearly every Oscar winner between 1933 and effectively 2007.
So... Well, we've gotten off Off a little bit, not a little bit, we've gotten off.
And we think that we're doing something, these people think that they're doing something generous and kind.
This racial disturbance that we're looking at was created.
You know, if you look back at the, we mentioned the Frankfurt School.
Some of the stuff that they talked about, gender stuff and stuff like that, it was inserted into this society to break the family, to break the churches, to destroy some of the fabric that keeps our country together.
And that's what you're participating in.
People say, what about Black Lives Matter, John?
And I say, well, if you're teaching children that they are victims, I say it's child abuse.
Every child can do their God's gift, pave the way for them to be their best selves.
Don't tell them that they can't do this or can't do that.
Every child is a powerhouse spiritually.
Every human being potentially is a spiritual powerhouse.
So let them be that.
Encourage that.
Let them grow to their full height.
And I think the races are being used continuously.
That's it.
One of the things that's fascinating to watch is the devolution of Hollywood itself.
So it used to be very centralized in LA, now you do production everywhere.
And because of digital streaming, it's not even as though there's a lot of gatekeepers anymore.
So are you hopeful that the kind of diffuse nature of Hollywood now, that you can produce a film in the middle of nowhere with a small budget, that this is going to break up a lot of the Hollywood monopoly and allow an opportunity for other kinds of content to flourish?
I think that's possible, yes.
I think, you know, you can make a film with an iPhone or something, you know?
I don't mean to just advertise iPhones, fellas, but, you know, they have this technology these days.
Everybody's got it, you know?
Every kid's got it.
So, yes, things are going to change, but there will always be artists that use this painting, this paint, you know, in some way to give us something.
And they have to be sound of mind and heart.
That's what they have to be.
So, I see, myself, I see the hope is, where's the hope?
As I've come along to understand myself a little bit better, I've understood the importance of God.
And I'm a person who loves all people of all faiths.
And I say God is not sleeping.
And I said this in Israel one time, I said, watch out.
Because Melchizedek, when he had the writing on the wall, that was his doom.
It was written on the wall.
God has a way of helping the good.
And now is the time when we need God most.
And I think something is going to happen here.
I think something is happening.
With people, righteous people are coming to the fore.
So many good righteous people we know.
You know, even, you know, splendid people of great courage, of great intelligence, of great kindness.
And they're saying, come along, let's come back together.
Let's pull ourselves back and heal.
That's what I say too.
So in a second, I'm going to ask you about your really interesting relationship with Judaism, because you're not Jewish, but you have a really interesting relationship with the religion and with Chabad.
I'm going to ask you about that in just one second.
But first, let's talk about life insurance.
Are you a responsible human being?
If you are a responsible human being, you need life insurance.
I mean, it is that simple.
If you've got people who are dependent on your income, and then you should die, well, they are not only going to miss you, they're going to miss the money that comes from you.
But this is why you can get life insurance.
You may be thinking, Can I get life insurance right now?
I mean, there's a pandemic, and there's riots, and the plagues, and everything else.
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When it comes to insurance, it is nice and extremely important to get it right.
Let's talk about your relationship with Judaism.
You have this really kind of fascinating relationship with Judaism.
You appear on the Chabad Telethon.
You have a very warm relationship with Israel, but you're not Jewish yourself.
So how did this come about?
Well, first of all, I wanted to just say one thing.
I'm sitting here with Ben Shapiro.
I saw Ben Shapiro when he was a younger fellow, just out of school, and I immediately took to you.
I said, oh my gosh, this is wonderful.
Because I'm always looking for the righteous guys, you know?
And I saw him, and then I saw, I remember when you, You took on UCLA when they were out of line when there was some anti-Semitic... The BDS stuff, yeah.
The what?
Boycott Divestment Sanctions.
Yes, exactly.
And you straightened them out with what?
What was your weapon?
Intelligence.
That you were able to use your information, to glean this information, put it in the right order, and put it on the table, and back everybody off with the truth.
It was an amazing, amazing thing.
I think you can get it on YouTube.
Maybe you can get it on YouTube.
Yeah, it's still available, I think.
Go look at it.
It was an amazing moment.
And then I saw you take on more and more things as you have grown, and I just want to say that I saw you first.
I'm very grateful for that and there are so many people and people that you've encouraged to put the spotlight on.
We have wonderful warriors for the truth and good now because of you and your brothers and sisters who have come forth.
Thank God.
And you've gone into these areas of the universities.
We've got to save those kids.
We've got to change this.
We've got to save those kids.
Because where did the KGB focus?
Hollywood?
This is a big thing with Lenin.
Films.
The universities, and now right down to the kindergartens.
They're being given the wrong information.
You send your kid off to school and they come back your enemy.
Very, you know, we need people to be able to change that so that children have a chance.
But anyway, you guys going into the universities with the temper, the way it is now, and they're going to throw stuff at you and they're going to organize these primitive attacks.
And all you've got is the righteous, your truths, and this great gift that you have.
And law enforcement.
And law enforcement too.
And lots and lots of law enforcement, exactly.
But anyway, you're making statements because those statements are getting out, not only from that auditorium, but they're being carried around on YouTube and people are cherishing them and learning from them.
So, God bless.
I appreciate it.
That's very sweet of you.
So, you've been doing the Chabad Telethon for years and years and years.
How did you get involved with Chabad?
What's your relationship with Judaism?
Chabad is a big deal to me.
Well, who is Chabad?
Chabad is a Hasidic group, and this Hasidic lineage of Jewish people Goes back to the 17th century or 18th century?
18th century.
18th century.
Really the Baal Shem Tov.
Baal Shem Tov, right.
And if you know anything about the history of the Jews, the history of the Jews is why am I so taken with it?
First of all, I had a very noble father.
He was a golf professional.
He had a wonderful sense of humor, and a great love for storytelling.
And he was a tremendous father, and loved his children, told us stories every night.
They say that stories help you, you know, when you're a child, and I would have to say yes.
And I remember my father would lie down on my bed.
We had a double-decker bed with three boys, one year apart.
And my older brother, Wes, was at the top.
He's now called Chip because he wanted to be a rock star.
He was named Chip Taylor.
But he used to be up there and I was down at the bottom and my other brother had his own bed because he was the eldest, Barry.
And my dad would lie down in either one of these beds with one of us every night rotating and he would tell us stories off the top of his head.
And they were always so wonderful stories and he had a great voice.
We'd just listen to the timbre of his voice and be next to him and see his profile and hear his words in this room that was lighted from the crack in the door where the kitchen light came through.
Very romantic, you know.
Anyway, he was a golf professional at a German-Jewish country club.
Now, what does that mean?
I was born in 1938, so this is in the 40s, war years.
But these Jewish people didn't have the ability to have a membership in other clubs.
There was anti-Semitism at that time.
And what did they do?
Did they organize riots?
No.
They bought land and built their own club.
And this innovation was a benefit to my family, because my dad put food on the table for us because of this.
And he was at this club, he caddied at this club when he was eight years old, and he eventually became a professional.
They took care of my father.
They encouraged him.
They found him to be a good fellow who was taking care of his family when he was 8 years old.
He was the breadwinner when he was 8 years old as a caddy.
They were very poor.
And then they encouraged him and they made him one of the professionals at 16 years old.
And at 18 they made him the head professional.
And he was there until he passed.
And I felt the influence of these people, the Jewish people, in this club all my life.
I think his storytelling came from that.
I think because his parents, his father was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia who never quite learned English, and so he couldn't have learned from my dad.
So I felt so much of my dad's Righteousness and kindness and all of this stuff, and strength.
It was tough when he saw things out of line, and he was always right.
You know, he would stand up.
So he set the template for my life, and that was because of these members of the Jewish club.
And I found out, and then I saw, many things happened to me.
I remember when people talk about antisemitism, I knew what antisemitism was because I knew how crazy it was because these people were so terrific.
They were great people.
And they were my dad's best friends, and they were very good to us as a family, the kids, the three of us.
So anyway, I knew the falsity from an early age, and I was angry about it too, I mean, at different times.
I saw the Life Magazine picture of a boy in striped pajamas behind barbed wire, and I And I felt at that time when I looked at that picture, I said, this could be me, you know.
And so I had an empathy for and an understanding of the insanity of anti-Semitism right from the go.
And for some reason, my friends, right from grammar school on up, were all Jewish people.
I don't know, I was drawn to them in some way.
And I was raised Catholic, and I have great regard for my Catholic teaching.
I went to good schools.
I had good teachers who helped me all the way.
And I have great love for John Paul II, who I played.
By the way, I thought it was fantastic.
And then I met Mother Teresa.
I asked her for her blessing for stuff I was doing with the Native Americans here.
And then I had people, spiritual people in the native community who I have deep friendships with.
Hopi Indian man, Thomas Bunyaka, great man.
Anyway, but there was always this Jewish presence.
Then I come out to California and I fell into a family from the Bronx.
Very beautiful family.
And we became buddies.
And then I was asked to go on this telethon.
I go on the telethon because I heard as a favor for somebody who did me a favor, who was a rabbi, and he said, I write for the telethon.
Would you come on the telethon?
And I said, well, who are these people?
He said, it's Chabad.
They do a lot of good for people, regardless of race or creed, and they're a lot of fun, and we have a telethon, and this is how they raise the money to go for the year.
I said, uh-huh.
Well, I'll check them out, and if it turns out to be right, I'll be very glad to do it.
So, I go to meet the head of the Chabad in California.
And when they say the head of the Chabad, they have emissaries throughout the world.
There are now 5,000 Chabad houses across the world.
And when I get off a plane anywhere in the world, I go and say, you know, the first thing I ask is, is there a Chabad house near here?
Because I feel I have a kind of a Familial connection.
But also, they're very helpful to anybody.
They help everybody.
So I went on a telethon.
I met this fellow, and he was very remarkable, this fellow, Shlomo Kunin, Rabbi Kunin.
And he's got these wonderful children.
He's got 12 children, I think.
And I prepared some nice thing.
I wrote it down several times, ripped it up, said, well, maybe this, maybe that.
A couple of sentences is all.
Give to these people.
They help other people.
People helping people.
That's what this is all about.
Reach in your pocket and give them what you can to be well served.
And then I hear And now the TOTE, there's a telethon, so they're gonna have raising money, and they're gonna have a TOTE.
And what is the TOTE?
They put on the, you know, on the board how much money they've made so far.
The TOTE, you know, $1,265,000, if they get up that far.
And I never knew if those were real, because they try to do the best they can.
These people are, they live very simply.
They don't, there's nothing, there's nothing slick about this group.
They just give what they have away.
Oh no, they literally just deploy people to random areas of the globe and then you're supposed to come up with the donations a lot of time just to sustain your family.
It's a very simple lifestyle for sure.
Yeah, absolutely.
But anyway, then they say the tote and then I hear the music.
And somebody pulls me into a circle of scenic dancers.
And my response was laughter.
I was laughing.
I knew how silly I looked, you know, and I had long blonde hair at that time.
And I'm in the middle of these dances, and I like to dance.
But I was having a good time.
So that's how I got into it.
And then I spent a lot of time with him.
And the younger group, his children, as they were growing,
They would, we would see each other, and they would always say, John, you'd like this, because they knew I was interested in everything, and they would give me information about, I played Noah at one point, and one of the Chabad Rebbe's, Semachunin, one of the boys was going to school there, you know, in Australia, and he came by every once in a while, and he'd give me some help and insights into Noah,
And they would always include me in everything, you see.
And I got to know the rituals, the different celebrations and stuff.
I was always very impressed with the With the shape of these rituals, what the meaning, the depth of meaning in all of these rituals.
So anyway, I know quite a lot about the Jewish story from these Chabad people.
And I really like Hasidism.
I like the Baal Shem, this magical figure.
And all of these leaders are like that.
The Rebbis are like that.
He not only taught rabbis who were teachers, he taught leaders.
And each of these Rebbis is a leader.
And this Rebbi, this most recent Rebbi that they've had, was an extraordinary, genius fellow who not only was a scientist, He was many, many different areas.
He spoke 14 languages, something like that.
And when he spoke, he spoke like you.
He'd speak for an hour without a pause.
All this information.
And people would write down everything he said.
Oh yeah, Rabbi Schneerson is a seminal figure.
Right.
And not only all that, but he had this Idea and this vision of sending people all over the world, populating the world with goodness and light.
This is what it was.
This is the mission of these people.
And he sends them, and now we have 5,000, you know, and it's growing!
And so, anyway, so I have a special place in my heart for these people, and so much so that when my partner, my business partner, Stephen Paul, from this little family, I said, John, JLTV, I want to do a program for JLTV.
What do you think we should do?
I said, why don't you do something on the Chabad?
This is Jewish life television, right?
I said, why don't you do something so people can have an insight into what they No, because I've been the beneficiary of so much mystical information, stuff from the Kabbalah.
People talk about the Kabbalah, they don't know what they're talking about.
The Kabbalah is real rich in understanding, and it all comes down to behavior.
So, if you can do a show like that so that they're a lot of fun, they sing all the time.
I mean, the Val Shem Tov said to the people who couldn't participate in all this rich legacy of the Talmud and all of this, he said, I'll give you a song.
Here, just learn this song.
And he'd teach them these songs.
And these songs are known today by these young rabbis.
And they sing them and you're just right back, you know, all those many years ago.
And so they're full of joy.
And full of wisdom in their teachings and in their behavior.
And so I said, let's do that.
And so we have a show now.
It's going to open in a couple of days.
on JLTV, and it's called Friends of Chabad.
And when my partner said to me, I said, you've got to meet these two guys.
Meet Rabbi Chaim and Rabbi Levi, these two of Rabbi Kuhn and Sons, Shlomo Kuhn and Sons, and you'll fall in love with these guys.
And sure enough, they came and started talking, and they And he would ask these basic questions, because he's not up on his Judaism.
He's Jewish, but he's not so up on it.
So he'd ask these simple questions, like the questions that a child is supposed to ask for Passover.
You know what I mean?
Just the simple questions.
Why do we do this?
Why do you wear black?
And then the answers we got.
were so extraordinary.
So I said, that's the show!
I said, that's it!
And he said, not only that, but you have to be on the show.
You have to be the host of the show to my friend, who has a big personality, wonderful personality, and is just a radiant energy.
So I said, you gotta be on the show.
If I'm gonna do it, you gotta be on it.
So the two of us are on it with these two young rabbis, and I think it's gonna be very special.
John, I want to ask you one final question about your favorite movies.
Not just the ones you starred in, just your favorite movies generally.
But if you want to hear Jon Voight's answers, you have to be a Daily Wire member.
Head on over to dailywire.com, click join at the top of the page.
You can hear the rest of our conversation there.
Well, John, thank you so much for stopping by.
I really, really appreciate it.
It's been a real pleasure.
Oh, for me, Ben.
Very nice to see you.
You too.
You've done very well, my son.
Ha ha ha ha!
The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday special is produced by Mathis Glover.
Executive producer, Jeremy Boring.
Our technical director is Austin Stevens.
And our assistant director is Pavel Lydowsky.
Associate producer, Nick Sheehan.
Our guests are booked by Caitlin Maynard.
Editing is by Jim Nickel.
Audio is mixed by Mike Coromina.
Hair and makeup is by Nika Geneva.
Title graphics are by Cynthia Angulo.
The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special is a Daily Wire production.
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