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Legendary Hollywood titan Denzel Washington has gone scorched earth on the sports media hot take machine. The beloved actor even created a name for the people in this line of work, calling them “opinionaires.”
The 70-year-old actor is out on the promotional trail for his new Spike Lee-directed film Highest 2 Lowest, which marks the fifth collaboration between the iconic Hollywood pair follow Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game and Inside Man.
During an interview with Sports Illustrated, Washington became quite passionate — which he is in general, but you could tell he seems to be thinking about specific people in the below clip — as he discussed “opinionaires” and the fact that they “sit behind a desk” because “those who can’t, talk about those who can.”
Denzel Washington rips sports media talking heads, says they “talk” because they can’t “do”
“Everybody’s got an opinion. In fact, we live in a world of ‘opinionaires.’ That’s what I call them, ‘opinionaires.’ They’re on all the shows, a bunch of the guys, a couple that have played, but most of them who haven’t who have an opinion about what something should be when they haven’t done it,” Washington said.
“Those who can do. Those who can’t talk about those who can. Those who have know what they’re talking about. Those who haven’t, don’t. Period. That’s how I feel about that. Too much talking. Too much talking. Everybody got an opinion. Everybody’s sitting around getting fat. You know, thinking they know how to do it. Just ‘cuz you can sit behind a desk and chit chat doesn’t mean you can do a damn thing.”
The always online Kevin Durant, of course, caught wind of Washington’s comments and made sure to let his agreement be known in the comments.
Highest 2 Lowest, a modern remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 Japanese film High and Low, releases in theaters on Friday, August 15 before beginning to stream on AppleTV+ on September 5.
In addition to the two-time Oscar-winning Denzel Washington, Highest 2 Lowest also stars Ilfenesh Hadera, Jeffrey Wright, ASAP Rocky, Ice Spice (in her feature film debut), Dean winters, John Douglas Thompson, LaChanze, Aubrey Joseph, Michael Potts, Wendell Pierce, Elijah Wright, Eddie Palmieri, Anthony Ramos, and Rosie Perez.