“Kidding” star Jim Carrey explained his motivation for all of that unflattering political art he’s been painting and posting to Twitter these days. In case you’re not on social media — or the Internet at all, really — most of his stuff is firmly anti-Trump.
“I do cartoons because I can’t just watch this nightmare unfold. I have to make it into something,” Carrey said Monday at the Television Critics Association press tour. “I have to alchemize it into something that is at least creative and different — even if it’s crass at times.”
“I’m expressing the crass that I believe everyone else wants to express and can’t necessarily do so in their own lives,” he continued on his own artwork. “So, when I stick a flag in Trump’s ass, it’s because that’s what everybody is seeing — they’re seeing him owned, and I have to express that — in sometimes the most crass way that I can express it, because I’m done with it. I’m done with liars.”
In case you were wondering, no one in the room introduced the word “crass” first — that was Carrey’s own adjective for some of his less-than-flattering portraits of the current White House administration.
Carrey was then asked by a reporter if he plans on doing more such paintings.
“I don’t plan anything. It’s not a choice, it’s just happening because it’s my way, my reflex to what I’m seeing, which I don’t like,” the newest Showtime star responded. “So, it’s just a civilized way of dealing with it, I think… to express it and get on board with as many other voices that are shouting from the rooftops.”
“It’s a new way to make a public record,” Carrey said of his specific protesting method. “You can tweet all you want but there is something about a picture. There is something about a creation you know that takes it to a whole other level and makes it something fun to consume at the same time.”
“But it’s not a choice, it’s literally just happening and I don’t know when it will stop or what it will turn into,” he added.
In a scrum following the “Kidding” TCA panel, Carrey was asked if he thinks President Trump digs the doodlings.
“He probably loves them,” Carrey said, laughing. “He probably loves them on some level. It’s like, I’m sure it’s insulting and whatever I’m sure it’s pissed him off. But at the same time, you know, we’re dealing with a narcissist, so it’s, you know, not always a straight shot. You know what I mean? You could do something that’s really horrible to him, but because he’s just getting a lot of attention horrible is alright for him.”
TheWrap asked then Carrey just how much time he spends per day on the artwork.
“There’s no set anything, you know?” he replied. “Sometimes I fall asleep with freakin’ paint all over the bed and sometimes I do it every once in a while. But mostly, you know, it depends on what I’m painting. This is what I’m painting right now [referencing ‘Kidding.’] Between this and the politics, and the whatever, I’ve got two television shows I’m painting, I’ve got this part that I’m painting, this character that I’m painting. So I’ve always got sculptures and paintings going on, they are either made of bronze or they are made of me.”