Actor Jim Caviezel gave a speech this weekend at a QAnon conference in Las Vegas, and while at least one of his former industry friends was bummed by the “Count of Monte Cristo” actor’s embrace of extremism, the thing a lot of people picked up on is how much he ripped off the movie “Braveheart.”
It’s not clear precisely what day Caviezel appeared at the “For God & Country: Patriot Double Down” convention, but his weirdo speech was posted to Twitter on Sunday night by the account @patriottakes.
During his speech, Caviezel recited pretty much word-for-word Mel Gibson’s big rallying speech in “Braveheart” — including that “you can take our lives, but you can never take our freedom” line. But don’t worry, he also included the “every man dies. Not every man truly lives” part, speaking in a stilted diction reminiscent of a revival preacher.
Then he got into some non-“Braveheart” QAnon stuff, telling the crowd “We must fight for that authentic freedom and live my friends. By God, we must live and with the Holy Spirit as your shield and Christ as your sword may you join Saint Michael and all the other angels in defending God and sending Lucifer and his henchmen straight back to hell where they belong.” Which, huh. OK.
This being a QAnon speech, he also made a point of telling the crowd, while wagging his finger, “a storm is upon us,” which as people who follow this cult know is a reference to the day, they say, that Donald Trump will suddenly arise to destroy the Satanic, child killing pedophile cabal QAnon lunatics believe control Hollywood and the Democratic Party.
At the end of the almost 20-minute speech, Caviezel referenced the popular QAnon conspiracy of the “Storm,” or a judgment day in which Donald Trump would order mass arrests for the elite cannibalistic cabal — made up of celebrities, government officials and Democrat politicians — that they believe is responsible a global child sex trafficking ring.
Have a look for yourself below:
As you can imagine, this provoked some pretty intense reactions. Take Kirk Acevedo, who starred alongside Caviezel in “Thin Red Line” (1998), who was shocked and surprised by the whole thing. “Your words are dangerous and filled with hate,” Acevedo wrote. “What happened my friend?”
Film critic Mark Kermode drew parallels between Caviezel’s career and the crazy Christian slant of QAnon’s conspiratorial beliefs.
Michael Rappaport suggested a different Mel Gibson speech for Caviezel’s next public address. (Though we suspect he meant Mel Gibson’s ex-girlfriend, not his ex-wife.)
Some people, like actor Bradley Whitford, expressed more serious concerns about the speech.
Whitford also had a pretty good joke though, to be clear.
See some more reactions below: