‘Ignorant, uninformed’: A-list actors slag off American voters after Donald Trump’s election victory

It’s been a big day for one of Hollywood’s more dubious contributions to society: A-list actors getting preachy about politics.

It’s been a big day for one of Hollywood’s more dubious contributions to society: A-list actors getting preachy about politics.

Sharon Stone and Alec Baldwin have both made comments implying that Americans who supported Donald Trump in the election earlier this month were “ignorant” and “uninformed”, among other less than flattering adjectives.

Ms Stone’s remarks came in the middle of a press conference at the Torino Film Festival in Turin, Italy. A reporter asked her whether she had anything to say about the International Day for the Eliminiation of Violence Against Women.

Sharon Stone in Turin. Picture: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

“This question about the question of violence against women, is a big one. And I think we have to really stop and think about things,” Ms Stone responded.

“And we have to stop and think about who we choose for government. And if, in fact, we are actually choosing our government or if the government is choosing itself.

“You know, Italy has seen fascism. Italy has seen these things, you guys. And you understand what happens. You have seen this before.

“My country is in the midst of adolescence. Adolescence is very arrogant. Adolescence thinks it knows everything. Adolescence is naive and ignorant and arrogant. We are in our ignorant, arrogant adolescence.

“We haven’t seen this before in our country. So Americans who don’t travel, who – 80 per cent don’t have a passport – who are uneducated, are in their extraordinary naivete.”

She was using an outdated figure, there. In the mid-1990s, only about 10 per cent of Americans held passports. The current number, according to estimates from 2023, is about 40 per cent. For context, the equivalent figure in Australia is about 55 per cent, so America is lower, but not egregiously so.

Sharon Stone. Picture: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

“What I would say is that the only way that we can help with these issues is to help each other,” Ms Stone continued.

“Now, we can’t just say women should help women, because that’s the only way we have survived so far. We must say that good men must help good men and those good men must be very aware that a lot of their friends are not good men.

“And we can’t continue to pretend that your friends are good men when they’re not good men. And you must be very clear minded, and understand that your friends who are not good men are dangerous, violent men.

“And you have to keep them away from your daughters, your wives and your girlfriends, because this is the time when we can no longer look away, when bad men are bad.

“I was watching a comedian the other night and he said, ‘I asked a woman to dinner and she said yes. And it was such a brave thing for her to do because the only real thing, the number one killer of women in the world today is men.’

“For men, the number one killer is heart disease. The number one killer for women is men! It is very important to remember that. It’s very important to remember that. Thank you.”

A little later in the day, at his own media event in Turin, Mr Baldwin was asked to weigh in on Ms Stone’s comments. He mainly focused his answer on the potential of the film industry to fill in “gaps” in viewers’ knowledge.

Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria, pictured at a previous event in New York. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

“In my country, without going into significant detail – half the people in the country are happy and half the people in the country are very unhappy,” Mr Baldwin said.

“It’s a very difficult time in the United States. I think the only way people can learn what is happening, and film is unique in this way, not only what’s happening in the United States, but around the world, what’s happening – you might not learn from the news, television news in the United States.

“As a business, they have to make money. And again, not to go into great detail about that. But there’s a whole, there’s a vacuum. There is a gap, if you will, in information.

“Americans are very uninformed about reality, what’s really going on, with climate change, Ukraine, Israel, you name it, all the biggest topics in the world. Americans have an appetite for a little bit of information.

“That vacuum is filled by the film industry, not just the independent film industry, not just the documentary film industry, which are very important around the world, but by narrative films as well, where the filmmakers and the buyers, the studios and the networks and the streamers are willing to go that way, and they’re willing to try to make films that are not only entertaining but informative as well.

“So I think right now is probably one of the most significant times in our history, and this is filling the gaps.

“Now is probably one of the most important times in our history for us to make films that will teach people about what reality is around the world.”