Jim Carrey is the latest ’90s star to fall from grace. The Ace Ventura actor and former comedy kingpin is acting like he’s been hit in the head with Diddy’s kettlebell. Carrey and his ex-partner Jenny McCarthy have long been at the forefront of the anti-vaxxer movement, arguing that there is a correlation between vaccinations and autism. And while Carrey and McCarthy called it quits back in 2010, the passage of time has only stoked their mutual passion for unsubstantiated scientific rhetoric and objectively harmful public policies.
On Tuesday, Carrey raged against the new California law requiring vaccinations for all public school children. The famous impressionist took to Twitter to do his best impression of a crazy old guy walking up and down the block, handing out pamphlets and refusing to pick up after his dog. Greatest hits from the social media rant include calling California Governor Jerry Brown a “corporate fascist that must be stopped,” and “California Gov says yes to poisoning more children with mercury and aluminum in manditory [sic] vaccines.” After pausing to high five a million angels, Carrey came in for his encore, accusing the CDC of corruption.
Carrey, who has spoken openly about his difficult childhood, depressed mother, and bouts of homelessness, is clearly taking a ride on what could be tactfully called an emotional rollercoaster.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to Man on the Moon co-star Paul Giamatti, Carrey was an oddball even back in 1999. Giamatti recalled, “It was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve had making a movie…Jim was wacky during it.” Apparently, Carrey went full method on set, stuffing his pockets with Limburger cheese in an attempt to nail his characterization of Andy Kaufman. “He’d constantly be hugging people, and he had it all over his hands and stuff. It was disgusting. He was touching people and making them shake his hands all the time. He smelled horrible.” Stench aside, Carrey had no problem making friends—his social circle included a group of “20 or 30 Hells Angels” who he invited to hang around the movie set.
Lactose-laden pockets aside, true Carrey historians would pinpoint his breakdown firmly in the McCarthy era (the intolerant, sexy blonde, not the intolerant, scary senator). After five years spent blissfully embracing on a bed of broken vaccine needles, unsold memoirs, and Cable Guy royalties, Carrey and Jenny McCarthy split in 2010. The breakup may not have been kind to Carrey’s mental health, but it was very beneficial for his Twitter followers. In an irrelevant Twitter rant that was clearly ghost written by a misogynistic 12 year old, Carrey philosophized, “No wife is blind enough to miss that much infidelity.... Elin had 2 b a willing participant on the ride 4 whatever reason. kids/lifestyle.”
While Tiger Woods was psyched to have made his first ever unpaid friend, his personal victory was overshadowed by Carrey’s continued Twitter insanity: “#BOING WORLD! I’m so grateful 2 u who bounce the big blue ball with me but I’ve had it with u who need 2 chalk me up as crazy...The truth is I’m an intuitive,creative,and spiritual person.I'm healthier,smarter,and YES much more sane than u who say I’m crazy...I’m so sane in fact,that I have managed to transcend the pettiness of your kind my whole life! U suppressive types who r so afraid…that some1 might create something with lasting impact in this world, something u cannot find the faith or the courage to dream of…and so you serve no purpose except to get in the way of those who bounce this big blue ball.” He went on to call his haters “Cyclops,” because “the narrow vision of the CYCLOPS can perceive no depth.” Greek Mythology burn!
Misusing both “Cyclops” and “blue ball” in one rant was the most stupidly impressive thing Carrey has done since convincing himself that vaccines are bad for you. Carrey, who hates dictionaries but loves opposite day, is also an artist. Don’t believe me? Just ask Jim Carrey’s art, which includes huge Fiberglass sculptures, videos, projected twitter conversations, Pop portraits of Pamela Anderson, a picture called The Unfinished Abandonment of Self, and something called the Shattered Series.
In an artist’s statement from his Palm Springs show “Nothing To See Here,” Carrey wrote: “I believe the purpose of art is to bring people into presence, to free them from thoughts of their past or their future. This involvement, this presence, this Freedom From Concern is what I playfully refer to as The Church of FFC. Bringing Freedom From Concern has been my life’s mission from the time I knew I could bring relief as a child, first to my family, who struggled with illness, addiction, and poverty, and then to the world. It is what I now seek for myself: freedom through honesty, freedom through absurdity, freedom through expression of every kind. My greatest hope for this exhibition is that you find something here that stops the world for you.”
The show also included a “black light-enhanced painting” accompanied by a John Mayer soundtrack—a man who Carrey calls “one of the greatest guitar players of our day.” Making angsty art doesn’t make you crazy, but complimenting John Mayer on anything other than a clean STD test is a clear sign of insanity.
In a related story, Carrey spray-painted on the outside wall of his West Village art studio; when city officials painted over his vandalism, he graffiti’d it again. Carrey’s redesign wouldn’t have been so newsworthy if he wasn’t drawing images of a character he created named “Baba”—a “mischievous deity…[who] exists in negative space.” The second Baba portrait included a message, “This graffiti reapply pursuant to…[drawing of Baba]…Ordinance F.F.C.”
In an unrelated story, Carrey made a viral clip expressing his age-inappropriate love for Emma Stone, and his just plain inappropriate desire to have “chubby little freckle-faced kids” with her. Staring at the screen like a serial killer with a hand-held camera, Carrey declared, “Emma, I think you’re all the way beautiful. Not just pretty, but smart and kind-hearted. And if I were a lot younger, I would marry you.” Stone then had to take a break from being the perfect combination of sexy and cute to pretend she was totally flattered by public lechery. We all felt uncomfortable.
But Carrey’s causes aren’t limited to vaccinations and redheads. In 2013, he boldly went where no movie star has gone before—on a crusade against his own profitability. Badmouthing his upcoming film Kick-Ass 2, Carrey tweeted, “I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence,” adding, “I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.” While Carrey has been known to call avid gun owners “maniacs,” and publicly mocked a dead Charlton Heston for his affinity for firearms, he did offer a minor mea culpa: “Asslt rifle fans, I do not agree wth u, nor do I fear u but I do love u and I’m sorry tht in my outrage I called you names.” Jim Carrey: pro-humanism, anti-guns, anti-vowels.
While Carrey has always been a goofy, charismatic performer with an eye for the ecstatic and the absurd, it’s clear that his pattern of crazy behavior has reached a fever pitch. Still, it’s been a fun ride for the ‘90s legend—Twitter has gifted him with the ultimate platform for spreading his loony gospel, and it turns out that the ladies love a good fixer-upper. Seriously, Jim Carrey is getting laid. So better luck next time, Emma, and sleep with one eye open, California Governor Jerry Brown.
