Sen. Ted Cruz fired back at Kevin Bacon and other “Hollywood liberals” after they supported his competitor, Rep. Beto O’Rourke, in the ongoing debate over NFL players’ kneeling during the national anthem.
Media company NowThis posted a video of the speech to Twitter on Tuesday, which quickly went viral and caught the attention of “Footloose” star Bacon, who retweeted it with the caption, “Thanks For sharing this!”
Cruz then retweeted Bacon on Thursday morning with his opinion on the matter. “Most Texans stand for the flag, but Hollywood liberals are so excited that Beto is siding with NFL players protesting the national anthem that Kevin Bacon just retweeted it,” Cruz wrote.
Most Texans stand for the flag, but Hollywood liberals are so excited that Beto is siding with NFL players protesting the national anthem that Kevin Bacon just retweeted it. That means all of us us can now win Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon! https://t.co/8oWpL1AuyF
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 23, 2018
He added, “That means all of us us [sic] can now win Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon!” Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a game where a person tries to figure out how many degrees of separation any celebrity is from the actor, and posits it is never more than six. Despite Cruz’s insinuation, many commenters were confused by his joke, or at the very least, unamused.
ok… you win Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon while Beto wins the election.
I would be good w/ that.
— michele collins (@michele5411) August 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1032670075365609473
That’s not how six degrees of Kevin Bacon works
— William Holman (@WilliamFHolman) August 23, 2018
Cruz and O’Rourke are in a tight battle ahead of November’s election for the former’s U.S. Senate seat.
Bacon isn’t the only Hollywood star who has voiced their support for O’Rourke. “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus said she would “vote for [O’Rourke]” if she could and Ellen DeGeneres said that she wanted to meet the Democratic candidate. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James called the video “A must watch!!!”
In the video that has been viewed more than 13 million times, O’Rourke says, “Peaceful, nonviolent protest including taking a knee at a football game to point out that black men, unarmed, black teenagers, unarmed, and black children, unarmed, are being killed at a frightening level right now.”
Thanks For sharing this! https://t.co/Rjf56Z7fI6
— Kevin Bacon (@kevinbacon) August 22, 2018
So perfectly articulated. I would vote for @BetoORourke if I could. https://t.co/fUgB5RaAkL
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) August 22, 2018
I would like to meet you, @BetoORourke. https://t.co/rz0XAKbH5w
— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) August 22, 2018
A Must Watch!!! 🙏🏾💪🏾💯‼️ Salute @BetoORourke for the candid thoughtful words! https://t.co/E1YrbqGciZ
— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/zachbraff/status/1032415477803507713
https://twitter.com/ikebarinholtz/status/1032631578231418880
https://twitter.com/ava/status/1032238188671258624