Is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Turning to the Right?

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has always walked a narrow line when it comes to politics. The actor and entrepreneur rose to fame as part of the WWE, closely mentored for decades by Vince McMahon, who biographer Abraham Josephine Riesman has characterized as “an enormously significant player in Republican politics.” But he didn’t bother to vote for the first decade he was eligible, announcing at the 2000 Republican National Convention that he had recently registered for the first time, at age 28. Twenty years later, he asked voters to support Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race, but in a new interview with Fox News, he says he’s not longer comfortable taking a political position—even as he employed right-signaling lingo that suggests where he might stand.

“The endorsement that I made years ago with Biden was one I thought was the best decision for me at that time,” Johnson said in the interview.  “But what that caused was something that tears me up in my guts — which is division. That got me. I didn’t realize that then, I just felt like there was a lot of unrest and I’d like things to calm down.” 

He will not make an endorsement in the 2024 election, Johnson said. “I realize now going into this election, I will not do that. My goal is to bring this country together. I believe in that. There will be no endorsement. At this level of influence, I will keep my politics to myself. It is between me and the ballot box.”

Johnson’s nearly-hour-long interview with Fox and Friends weekend host Will Cain was posted to YouTube Friday, a follow-up to a conversation Cain noted the pair had had at the New York Stock Exchange. Cain is likely referring to Johnson’s January appearance on the floor to ring the opening bell, as he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with McMahon, who since 2022 has been the target of high-profile allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct. Johnson, who occasionally makes social media statements claiming to “stand with” women, has never taken a public position on the claims against McMahon, nor have his representatives responded to repeated requests for comment. 

But when asked by Cain if he was happy with the current state of America, Johnson said “no.” But his reasons weren’t, say, unchecked gun violence, income inequality, or a rising tide of hate. Instead, says Johnson, the issue is “Today’s cancel culture, woke culture, division, etcetera — that really bugs me.”

Johnson, who made headlines in 2019 when the Wall Street Journal reported on fight-scene tweaks the actor allegedly demanded to maintain his “alpha-male persona,” continued “In the spirit of that, you either succumb to that and be what other people want you to be, or you be yourself and be real.” But revealing one’s true self “might make people upset and piss people off, and that’s OK,” said the man who just announced that the pushback he faced for his 2020 endorsement was too upsetting to repeat. 

Well, bad news, Flex Kavana. Even with those remarks, you’re pissing certain people off—in this case, it’s the audience of The View. Newsweek reports that after some of his conversation with Cain was played on the show, those seated in-studio booed Johnson so loudly that the show’s hosts were taken “by surprise with their overwhelmingly negative response.”

View co-host Joy Behar suggested that by choosing Fox News for this interview, Johnson was telling people where he stood without telling people where he stood. “Should I pay any attention to someone who gives an interview on Fox, where they lie every day?” she asked.

Co-host Sunny Hostin concurred, saying “I do think we’re living in a time where we have someone [Trump] running for president that is an existential threat to democracy.”

“Now is the time—if you have a platform—you must be active, you must speak out,” she said.

It’s not the first time the onscreen brawler has turned tail and run from the presidential fight. In 2018, he told Rolling Stone that though he’d voted for Barack Obama twice, he didn’t bother to vote for president in 2016. “At the time, I just felt like it was either vote for the [candidate] I thought would make a better president than the other, even though I would rather have someone else, or not vote at all,” he said of the election that pitted Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump. 

“I wrestled back and forth with it. We were on the set of Jumanji in Hawaii, and it really was like calling on the gods. Give me the answer. Ultimately, it was [to not vote].”

“The next elections, in 2020, I think I’ll be a little bit more vocal in who I support,” he said then, and he stuck to his word, tweeting that September “As a political independent & centrist, I’ve voted for both parties in the past. In this critical presidential election, I’m endorsing @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris.”

“Progress takes courage, humanity, empathy, strength, KINDNESS & RESPECT,” he continued, a sentiment that reflected his remarks in 2018. “I think in a lot of people’s minds, what Trump has proved is that anybody can run for president. And in a lot of people’s minds, what he’s also proved is that not everybody should run for president,” he said then. 

It’s unclear if Johnson no longer values the qualities he called out in 2020, or if he no longer believes what he said in 2018. What does seem to be clear is that if there’s one thing the reportedly 6’5″ “People’s Champ,” is desperately afraid of, it’s alienating one side or the other. One wonders if, by keeping silent, he’ll instead manage to alienate both.

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