Morgan Freeman had strong words for the media on Baltimore coverage, and called networks out for zooming in on places like Baltimore only when they see fire.
“F–k the media,” he told the Daily Beast in an interview published Thursday, and complained about the big three cable networks’ bias.
“Look at MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN. Go between those three. There’s a take, there’s a take, and there’s a take. It’s just commentary. CNN wants to be pure news, but the others are just commentary. They’re just commenting on things.”
On Baltimore coverage, Freeman says the media’s been better than the very one-sided Ferguson coverage.
“Now, they’re getting more of the whole picture. Ferguson? No. Baltimore seems to be coming up with a different scenario in the background,” he said.
“People are saying, ‘You were not all there when we were just talking and trying to make a point, but if we set something on fire, all of a sudden you’re all here. Why is that? What’s the difference?’ And some young reporters are listening. That sort of observation is very useful.”
The movie star also credited technology with revealing the critical behind-the-scenes details happening between police and African Americans.
“Police have a standard reaction to shooting somebody. I fear for my life and I fear for my safety. Now, at least you can see, ‘Hey, his hands were up in the air! What part of your safety were you afraid of? The guy was running away, what part of your safety was in danger?’ There was one situation I saw where a cop told a guy to get out of the car, said, ‘Show me your driver’s license,’ and the guy reached back into the car and the cop shot him!”
All of the networks Freeman mentioned have been covering the Baltimore riots wall-to-wall since Monday, dispersing anchors and reporters into the middle of the riots.