Chris Pratt is “trying to make sense of the election through the eyes of Americans on both sides,” which may help explain why he was conspicuously missing when his fellow Avengers assembled for democracy in an ad supporting Kamala Harris.
The Guardians of the Galaxy actor has long been a suspected Donald Trump supporter, as fans have pointed to signs that seem to indicate conservative leanings, including his penchant for publicly sharing his religious beliefs at unexpected times. But as the stakes are substantially higher this election, social media users are rolling their eyes at his banal thoughts on the upcoming election.
“If we become too paralyzed by defeat or too pompous in victory, allegiance to our ‘team’ can blind us to the fact that we are fellow countrymen,” Pratt wrote on the eve of the election in his mother-in-law Mara Shriver’s Sunday Paper. Whether Trump or Harris wins, he added, “It’s OK to take a moment to lick your wounds when you lose,” adding, “Heck, go ahead and cry in the mirror.”
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Never mind that this particular election could mean that someone who has attempted to overturn an election through violent agitators, allegedly admires dictators, and aspires to bring fascist ideals into the White House could become the next president. As Pratt writes, no matter what happens, you should “be a good sport.”
The criticism of Pratt’s column was perhaps best summed up by a trans woman and avowed Guardians fan, who wrote, “My life is at stake, the bodily autonomy of my fellow trans siblings and people who can get pregnant in general, of black people and immigrants, of anyone who disagrees with Trump’s policies, and watching Chris Pratt say ‘I see both sides’ and ‘it’s not about who wins and loses.’”
Wrote another, “Human rights are on the line and he has the audacity to say this crap.”
The overall message of Pratt’s piece on the site was about embracing kindness whether one wins or loses, without mentioning why so many have called this election the most consequential of our lifetimes.
And that’s not unsurprising for the Marvel actor, who has been known to align himself with Christian figures who spread anti-LGBTQ messages (for which he was called out by Elliot Page in 2019) and was discovered to be consuming content from social media accounts that circulate alt-right sentiments and homophobia.
Pratt has never publicly supported Trump, but spectators put the pieces together to conclude as much about him in 2020, when a Twitter post calling the actor a “closeted Trump supporter” went viral. His wife Katherine Schwarzenegger came to his defense online, but did not deny it: “Love is what we all need, not meanness and bullying,” she wrote at the time. Guardians director James Gunn criticized fans for “assuming what [Pratt] believes, politically or in any other way, because he’s a Christian.”
Meanwhile, Pratt’s in-laws Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, whose website carries Pratt’s article, have both endorsed Kamala Harris.
