Denzel Washington Gets Candid on Cancel Culture: ‘You Can’t Be Canceled If You Haven’t Signed Up’

Denzel Washington could care less about cancel culture. 

The two-time Oscar winner, 70, gave his candid opinion during an interview with Complex published on Friday, August 15. When asked if he considers being “canceled,” Washington replied, “What does that mean — to be canceled?”

His interviewer, Jillian Hardeman-Webb, explained, “It means you lose public support.”

In response, Washington said, “Who cares? What made public support so important to begin with?”

“I guess because followers now are currency,” Hardeman-Webb responded, to which the actor — who was promoting his new film, Highest 2 Lowest — said, “I don’t care who’s following who. You can’t lead and follow at the same time, and you can’t follow and lead at the same time. I don’t follow anybody. I follow the heavenly spirit. I follow God, I don’t follow man. I have faith in God. I have hope in man, but look around, it ain’t working out so well.”

He added: “Forget being followed. You can’t be canceled if you haven’t signed up. Don’t sign up.”

Following the sit-down, Complex posted the exchange via Instagram, where Washington’s hot take fired up the comments section. 

“HE BETTER PREACH!!!! Humans don’t have that kind of power over my ordained life,” Taraji P. Henson remarked, while another IG user wrote, “Denzel been real as f lately 😂.”

Washington has spoken his mind over the course of his press tour for Highest 2 Lowest, a crime thriller directed by Spike Lee. 

Earlier this week, he said in an interview on Jake Hamilton’s “Jake’s Takes” series that winning awards doesn’t mean that much to him. 

“I don’t do it for Oscars,” Washington asserted on the Monday, August 11, episode. “I really don’t care about that kind of stuff.”

“I’ve been at this a long time, and there’s times when I’ve won, shouldn’t have won, didn’t win, should have won,” he continued, adding, “I’m not that interested in Oscars. People say, ‘Well, where do you keep it?’ I say, ‘Next to the other one.’”

While appearing on the Tuesday, August 12, edition of ESPN’s First Take, Washington criticized Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones over the ongoing contract dispute with Cowboys star linebacker Micah Parsons.

“He’s making it hard,” Washington said of Jones. “Not to be a fan, because I’m still a Cowboys fan. I’m still going to have the star on the side of the hat. But he ain’t thinking about us. He’s thinking about his pocket.”

After host Stephen A. Smith tried to redirect the conversation to Highest 2 Lowest, Washington told the camera, “What does it say down at the bottom of the movie [poster]? What does it say on the one sheet? ‘All money ain’t good money,’ Jerry!”