Actor Morgan Freeman is coming under fire for appearing in a video where he says that the U.S. has been attacked and is at war with Russia.
The video, posted by the Committee to Investigate Russia, has drawn hundreds of thousands of views online – and much criticism.
“We have been attacked. We are at war,” Freeman says dramatically at the opening of the video.
“Imagine this movie script: a former KGB spy, angry at the collapse of his motherland, plots a course for revenge. Taking advantage of the chaos, he works his way up through the ranks of a post-Soviet Russia and becomes President,” he continues, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“He establishes an authoritarian regime, then he sets his sights on his sworn enemy – the United States,” Freeman continues. “And like the true KGB spy he is, he secretly uses cyber warfare to attack democracies around the world. Using social media to spread propaganda and false information, he convinces people in democratic societies to distrust their media, their political processes, and their neighbors – and he wins.”
“Vladimir Putin is that spy. And this is no movie script,” Freeman points out.
Then: “We need our president to speak directly to us and tell us the truth. We need him to sit behind the desk in the Oval Office and say: ‘My fellow Americans, during this past election, we came under attack by the Russian government. I’ve called on Congress and our intelligence community to use every resource available to conduct a thorough investigation to determine exactly how this happened.'”
“The free world is counting on us for leadership,” Freeman adds. “For 241 years, our democracy has been a shining example to the world of what we can all aspire to be. And we owe it to the brave people who have fought and died to protect this great nation and save democracy. And we owe it to our future generations to continue the fight.”
The video ends with a PSA saying: “Join the Committee to Investigate Russia. Join the Fight.”
One Twitter user, Julia Davis, said: “The Kremlin is telling everyone not to take Morgan Freeman’s video seriously. What it means in the real world: take it very seriously.”
(Twitter)
Yet user Anya Parampil said: “So incredibly xenophobic and horrific. No one ‘liberal’ should be able to tolerate this.”
And in a separate tweet: “How can Morgan Freeman, a black man, say with a straight face the US has been a shining democracy for 241 years?”
(Twitter)
Another Twitter user agreed with the video’s sentiments.
Proud Navy Veteran wrote: “Morgan Freeman is correct, we are at war with Russia and the GOP is supporting the enemy.”
(Twitter)
And one Twitter user asked, “Who is behind this Russia War propaganda?”
(Twitter)
“And how devious that they picked liberals’ ‘voice of God’ Morgan Freeman as their spokesperson,” Mr. Frexit added.
