On Sunday night Cusack twittered to his well over 210,000 followers:
“I AM FOR A SATANIC DEATH CULT CENTER AT FOX NEWS HQ AND OUTSIDE THE OFFICES ORDICK ARMEYAND NEWT GINGRICH-and all the GOP WELFARE FREAKS,”
Very smart and classy, Cusack! With all the wackos in the world, some of whom are probably your faithful followers, you come out with such an obscene and violent call to violence? As if we don't have enough of that already, with all the teen violence, gang violence and terrorist threats. And according to some L.A. psychiatrists it's not so totally far fetched.
“His provocative tweets could easily incite a rabid fan to commit violent acts against Fox News Headquarters and others he names," said Dr. Carole Lieberman, a Beverly Hills-based psychiatrist and author of "Coping With Terrorism: Dreams Interrupted."And they complain about our few fringe wack jobs who have made hateful comments, but at least they're not in the position to influence others, like Cusack.
Fans could not only be influenced because of their devotion to Cusack, the man, but also because of their love for one of the characters he plays,” she told Fox411.
Cooper Lawrence, the author of “Cult of Celebrity” told Fox 411: “The fear isn't that a celebrity will influence someone to do something violent or out of character due to the sheer devotion to the celebrity, the fear is that someone who is already vulnerable, mentally disturbed, already considering something dangerous, may be encouraged to do so if it is advocated by their favorite star,”
Lawrence explained that while celebrities don't make healthy people do things they wouldn't normally do, they could impact someone who is on the fence or mentally unstable.
“John Cusack has to know that his words carry weight because he is an actor beloved by many generations of folks who may not get his humor and might think he is calling for something more sinister. The responsibility is on him to not abuse his fame to influence something negative on the off chance that even one person takes his words to heart,” Lawrence said.
There are those who believe that by saying such vicious things he might start losing fan base. Well, not that I was necessarily a fan, but if I was he lost this one.
We all have the right to free speech and to condemn those whom we find lacking, but we do NOT have the right to incite violence against them. I know many are fed up with Fox News, I have seen the zillion petitions and posts on my personal Facebook page calling for boycotts of Fox News, but I respectfully propose that if they find Fox News so offensive, then turn the dang channel off or switch the TV off. No-one is forcing them to watch Fox News, anymore than anyone is forcing non-liberals to watch Keith Olbermann on MSNBC.
But I suppose as long as celebrities like Cusack have an audience, and a large one at that, they will continue to shove their proverbial feet in their mouths, and mouth off when they should just stick to acting.