Actor Sam Elliott has apologized for recent comments about the award-winning movie The Power of the Dog and said he feels “terrible.”
The 77-year-old 1883 actor made controversial comments about the movie, widely seen as homophobic, on the podcast WTF with Marc Maron. During the episode, he took aim at the movie’s director Jane Campion and slammed the film’s LGBT themes.
However, it appears Elliott has now had a change of heart. Speaking at Deadline’s Contenders TV event, the actor claimed: “I can only say that I’m sorry, and I am. I am.”
Sam Elliott says he’s sorry he ‘hurt people’
He also said that the Power of the Dog had “struck a chord” with him and that he had wanted to talk to Maron about how the film had made him feel, but that he’d articulated it badly: “I didn’t articulate it very well. And I said some things that hurt people, and I feel terrible about that.”
Elliott also stated that the “gay community has been incredible to me” his entire career and that he was sorry he had offended any of his gay friends.
Finally, Elliott reminded his audience that he had praised director Campion during the podcast, calling her “brilliant” at the time. But he also had some advice for everybody, “don’t do a podcast with the call letters WTF,” he added.
According to Page Six, Campion had called Elliott’s original comments a “trifecta of misogyny and xenophobia and homophobia.”
During the controversial podcast, Elliott compared the Power of the Dog to a Chippendale dancer: “That’s what all these f**king cowboys in that movie looked like. They’re all running around in chaps and no shirts; there’s all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the f**king movie.”
He also took aim at Campion by claiming she didn’t know anything about the American West: “what the f**k does this woman from down there, New Zealand, know about the American west?”
For her part, Campion later pointed out that the grizzled actor is not actually a real cowboy but just an actor.
Power of the Dog star Benedict Cumberbatch called Sam Elliott’s comments ‘odd’
Benedict Cumberbatch, who stars in the lead role as a closeted cowboy, described Elliott’s comments as “odd.” He also spoke about how the comments indicate the high levels of intolerance and toxic masculinity in our society.
The Power of the Dog movie also stars Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst in lead roles, and it received 12 nominations at this year’s Academy Awards. Campion won in the Best Director category.
The Power of the Dog is currently available to stream on Netflix.