Denzel Washington may be a two-time Oscar winner and one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, but he’s continuing to share that he’s not overly concerned with other people’s opinions.
Just days after making headlines for saying he’s “not that interested in Oscars,” the Highest 2 Lowest star has indicated that he doesn’t spend time worrying about getting “canceled.”
When Washington, alongside director and frequent collaborator Spike Lee, was asked, in a video interview with Complex News if he was concerned about “being ‘canceled,’” he replied with a question of his own, “What does that mean — to be canceled?”
When the interviewer, Jillian Hardeman-Webb, said, “it means you lose public support,” Washington said, “who cares?”
He added, “What made public support so important to begin with?”
Hardeman-Webb replied, “followers now are currency,” which led Washington to explain what’s important to him.
“I don’t care who’s following who,” he said. “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, “You can’t be canceled if you haven’t signed up. Don’t sign up. Don’t get me started. My chest started hurting. You know, chest is getting tight talking about it.”
Washington and Lee’s latest collaboration, their fifth overall and first in nearly 20 years, though according to Lee likely not their last, the movie Highest 2 Lowest, is in theaters now.
The A24 and Apple film is a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low, starring Washington as a music mogul who’s targeted in a ransom plot.
Earlier this week, Washington said he doesn’t act “for Oscars.”
“I don’t care about that kind of stuff,” he said on Jake’s Takes. “I’ve been at this a long time, and there’s time when I won and shouldn’t have won and then didn’t win and should’ve won. Man gives the award. God gives the reward. … People ask me, ‘Where do I keep it?’ Well, next to the other one. I’m not bragging! Just telling you how I feel about it. On my last day, [Oscars] aren’t going to do me a bit of good.”
Washington has won two Oscars, both for acting, for his supporting role in 1989’s Glory and for best actor for 2001’s Training Day.