Giancarlo Esposito is calling for a revolution.
While doing press at the Sundance Film Festival premiere of his new film, “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” the actor warned about the tensions rising in the country due to the ICE operations in Minneapolis that have already killed two people. His message is: “We will not be ICE’d out.”
“This is time for a revolution — and they don’t even know that’s what they’re starting,” Esposito told Variety. “We have to stand up to it. They can’t take us all down. If the whole world showed up on Putin’s doorstep or the Iranians’ doorstep or in Washington, they’d kill 500 or 50 million or however [many], but the rest of us would survive with a new [world].”
The “Breaking Bad” actor spoke candidly about his need to speak out and condemn the violence he and the rest of the country have watched carried out by immigration agents over the past weeks.
“Some very rich old white men are exerting their power to suppress our own people, thus creating a feeling of civil war in the streets, preparing the haters to hate, teaching them how to shoot,” he said. “This is all a preparation for a very insidious problem that’s happening in our world. And for me, I have to speak out. We will not be ICE’d out. This is not going to happen.”
At this year’s Sundance, anti-ICE protestors have made their voices heard outside of the event, calling their demonstration “Sundancers Melt ICE.” Celebrities attending the festival, like Olivia Wilde, Jenna Ortega, and Natalie Portman, have spoken out in support of the movements, wearing “ICE Out” pins to events. “Lord of the Rings” actor Elijah Wood reportedly joined the Sudancers protest.
The festival has not been void of charged political altercations either. Last week, Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida was reportedly attacked at a party by a man who threatened him with deportation and punched him in the face before running away. The man, named Christian Joel Young, was detained by the event’s security and later charged with assault.
Public figures from basketball stars like Victor Wembanyama to actors like Yara Shahidi, to political authorities like Barack and Michelle Obama have been compelled to denounce ICE’s actions and call for a stop to the agency’s enforcement in Minneapolis. The Obamas have even encouraged people to protest, the first Black president pleading for Americans to “get off the sidelines to demand change.”
