Tim Robbins is shutting down any “deranged” comparisons between his 1992 film “Bob Roberts” and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Conspiracies surfaced on social media after Thomas Matthew Crooks killed a Trump rallygoer and tried to assassinate the former president, injuring two others in the crowd as well. Robbins weighed in after one theory claimed the shooting was arranged by convicted felon Trump to boost his campaign for re-election, much like the plot of Robbins’ political drama “Bob Roberts.”
“To anyone drawing a parallel between my film ‘Bob Roberts’ and the attempted assassination of Trump, let’s be clear. What happened yesterday was a real attempt on a presidential candidate’s life,” Robbins wrote. “Those that are denying the assassination attempt was real are truly in a deranged mindset. A human being was shot yesterday. Another killed. They may not be human beings that you agree with politically but for shame folks. Get over your blind hatred of these people. They are fellow Americans. This collective hatred is killing our souls and consuming whatever is left of our humanity.”
“Bob Roberts” was written and directed by Robbins, who also starred. The film centered on the rise of a populist conservative politician (Robbins) who stages being shot by an assassin to win a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania.
Robbins has been outspoken on political beliefs in the media in recent years. In 2022, the “Shawshank Redemption” star and theater director complained about the vaccine mandates in California, saying during a Substack interview,” I had a problem with this idea of having a litmus test at the door for entry. I understood the health concerns, but I also understand that theater is a forum, and it has to be open to everybody. If you start specifying reasons why people can’t be in a theater, I don’t think it’s a theater anymore. Not in the tradition of what it has always been historically, which is a forum where stories are told and disparate elements come together and figure it out.”
He added, “That’s what it’s been for. People figure out their relationship with the gods, with society, with each other. But at the door, you don’t say you can’t come in, because you haven’t done this or that. I had a problem with that. So I waited until everyone could be allowed in the theater.”
The “Bull Durham” alum also tweeted in August 2022 that following the CDC’s updated COVID policy, the SAG-AFTRA union should also reconsider their mandates. “Now that the CDC has changed its policy, it might be time to end your discriminatory vaccine mandates and allow those that you have marginalized and excluded to work again.”
He alleged that the “policy of lockdowns or mandates” was part of a “political agenda” at the time. Robbins said during a podcast appearance with Russell Brand, “That’s where I really started to have problems with it…We turned into tribal, angry vengeful people, and I don’t think that’s something sustainable for the Earth. This turned into, ‘You should fucking die because you have not complied’ [with vaccines]. It’s incredibly dangerous.”
