Why People Are Calling For Chris Pratt To Be Canceled

Most people know Chris Pratt as the lovable goofball from Parks and Recreation or as a straight-up hero from the Jurassic Park and Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Which is why it might be surprising for some people to learn that a large swath of the internet wants to "cancel" Pratt after he was voted the "worst Hollywood Chris" by Twitter. 

If none of those words seem to be adding up, don't worry — it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Basically, a Twitter user named Amy Berg posted a picture of the four most famous men named Chris in Hollywood: Pratt, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Chris Pine. She captioned the pic, "One has to go," meaning that she wanted people to vote for the one they didn't like. Overwhelmingly, Twitter turned against Pratt, apparently due to his religious and political beliefs, with one user summing up the collective feeling by responding to the OP, "Chris Pratt can suck it." Uh, what did this guy do to the internet? 

Chris Pratt's political and religious views have long been a matter of speculation. He is not overtly political ever, but given that the 2020 election has been so contentious, some fans seem to want him to pick a side already. One of the reasons Twitter "canceled" Pratt was because he didn't attend a Joe Biden campaign rally, solidifying a theory that Pratt is a lowkey supporter of Donald Trump, per The Hollywood Reporter.

In his defense, Pratt told People back in 2017 that he doesn't identify with either party, saying, "I really feel there's common ground out there that's missed because we focus on the things that separate us. You're either the red state or the blue state, the left or the right. Not everything is politics." Still, in the same interview, Pratt alleged that Hollywood ignores the "average, blue-collar American" and that he didn't feel "represented" by many movies coming out of Hollywood at the time. This perceived underrepresentation of straight, white males is also a common theme in Trump's rhetoric and among the reasons many people support him, per NPR.

For context, Moonlight won Best Picture at the Oscars that year, famously beating out La La Land. Also up for Best Picture was Manchester By The Sea, a movie about an average, blue-collar man, that was nominated for six Oscars and took home three that year. Fences, Hidden Figures, Lion, and Arrival were among the other nominees. 

Chris Pratt hasn't publicly supported any presidential candidate, so it's safe to say that one might never really know who he casts his ballot for in 2020. But he does publicly attend the Zoe Church in Los Angeles, which has links to the Hillsong megachurch, which is another reason people on Twitter want to cancel him. Not because he's a practicing Christian, mind you, but because the church has an ultra-conservative reputation and was called "infamously anti-LGBTQ" by Ellen Page.

Pratt denied that his church was homophobic at the time, saying, "It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which 'hates a certain group of people' and is 'infamously anti-LGBTQ.' Nothing could be further from the truth. I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone." He added, via CNN, "but no church defines me or my life and I am not spokesman for any church or any group of people."

Just weeks before Twitter voted him the "worst," Chris Pratt posted an Instagram caption about voting that rubbed people the wrong way. In a contentious election year, Pratt joked that he wasn't like other celebs who used social media to get out of the vote and that instead, he wanted fans to "vote" for his upcoming movie Onward in the People's Choice Awards. Not taking voting seriously, attending a reportedly anti-LGBTQ church, and echoing Trump-like sentiments over the years are just some of the reasons some people are over him. (His love for hunting is also not popular among certain groups of fans.) 

In the wake of Twitter rallying around canceling Pratt, his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger and fellow MCU co-stars came to his defense. Mark Ruffalo, a staunch liberal, tweeted, "I know him personally, and instead of casting aspersions, look at how he lives his life. He is just not overtly political as a rule. This is a distraction." Pratt's wife commented on E!'s Instagram (via People), saying, "Being mean is so yesterday." Robert Downey Jr. also posted an ode in defense of his friend.

Even if Twitter thinks Pratt is the worst, his colleagues definitely do not — and with a slew of starring roles in upcoming movies, it's safe to say that Chris Pratt will be just fine.