Wil Wheaton slammed Dwayne Johnson’s decision not to get involved in politics.
The “Stand by Me” star and Trump critic branded the wrestler-turned-actor a “coward” after he said he planned to keep his political views private.
“I’m so sorry to hear he’s such a coward,” Wheaton wrote in a thread Monday in response to a post by George Takei highlighting Johnson’s recent comments to Esquire.
Johnson, 53, explained in an interview that he no longer wants to publicly comment on politics because he doesn’t want it to overshadow his work.
“What I’ve learned through experience is that you have to keep what’s most important, what you need, not what you want,” Johnson said.
“For me, the most important thing, swinging my legs out of bed in the morning and running, is creating. It’s art, it’s storytelling.”
“I learned that I’m going to keep my politics to myself,” he continued. “There are moments when you feel like there’s nothing you can’t talk about.
“If I’m wrong, I’ll tell you I’m wrong. Or if I take a step forward and feel this is the right path, I’ll share that with you.”
Mr Johnson, who identifies as an independent, also said he believed people with opposing political views should talk to each other instead of attacking each other publicly, adding: “I hate stone-throwing. I hate all bulls – it goes with it.”
Wheaton has long been outspoken about his political views and campaigned for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Prime Minister Johnson publicly supported Joe Biden during the 2020 election, but said he would not support any other presidential candidate ahead of the 2024 campaign, explaining that he regretted the divisiveness his previous support had caused.
Still, the “Smashing Machine” star has spoken out about Trump in recent years.
Prime Minister Johnson said there was “no place” for political violence in the United States and condemned the July 2024 assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
“It doesn’t matter if you love Donald or not. They tried to assassinate him. There’s no room for that,” Johnson said at the Values Conference in September 2024.
“Despite who we were in that moment, I still believe to my core that we are not who we are as a country.
“So, in that moment, he stood up. That’s what we wanted to see.”
Mr. Johnson also said that Mr. Trump had long been a fan of his wrestling career and had attended his matches in New York City.
During an October 2024 appearance on “Six Feet Under with Mark Caraway,” President Trump revealed that Johnson contacted him after the assassination attempt.
“When I got shot, as you may have heard, Rock called Dana White and said, ‘I want your phone number. I want your phone number. I can’t believe what he did in a way,'” Trump said.
“He thought it was courage. I don’t know, he thought, ‘What’s going on here?'” But it was great, The Rock. ”
