Violence isn’t a laughing matter for Jim Carrey. Canada’s favourite funny guy tweeted to his 10 million followers on Sunday saying he “cannot support” his upcoming movie Kick-Ass 2 because of the amount of violence portrayed in the film.
Carrey explained that his change in heart came after the recent shootings in the U.S such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting back in December.
“I did Kick Ass a month before Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence,” Carrey said.
“I meant to say my apologies to others involved with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.”
In the Kick-Ass sequel, that is set to come out in August, Carrey plays Colonel Stars & Stripes, a born-again Christian and vigilante. Ironically his character uses a gun with no bullets in it.
The comedic actor has spoken openly about his views on gun control in the U.S. He admitted that the recent shootings will influence his future acting choices.
It didn’t take too long for Mark Millar, writer of the Kick-Ass series, to respond to the statement. In a letter posted on his personal website, Millar openly expressed his shock to Carrey’s tweet.
“Jim is a passionate advocate of gun control and I respect both his politics and his opinion, but I’m baffled by this sudden announcement as nothing seen in this picture wasn’t in the screenplay 18 months ago,” Millar said.
“Like Jim, I’m horrified by real-life violence (even though I’m Scottish), but Kick-Ass 2 isn’t a documentary.”
This isn’t the first time Kick-Ass has garnered some negative attention. Back in 2010 when the first film was released, there was controversy surrounding Chloe Grace Moretz’s character Hit-Girl, an 11-year-old superhero who has no problem killing the bad guys and dropping the “C” bomb, among other words.
