Yahoo Movies Full Metal Jacket star R. Lee Ermey felt 'blackballed' by Hollywood over conservative views
R. Lee Ermey, who died on Sunday aged 74, played one of the most iconic roles of any Vietnam movie ever made, as the fearsome drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket.
And though he went on to appear in a host of other movies, the actor felt that he had been ‘blackballed’ by Hollywood over his conservative views.
It was after Ermey publicly spoke out about the administration of former President Barack Obama that he said that Hollywood appeared to turn against him.
Ermey was a long-time supporter of the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Charity, and spoke frankly during a fundraising event in 2010.
“The economy really sucks,” he told the crowd. “Now I hate to point any fingers at anybody, but the present administration probably has a lot to do with that. And the way I see it, they’re not going to quit until they bring this country to its knees.
“We should all rise up, and we should stop this administration from what they’re doing because they’re destroying this country.
“They’re driving us into bankruptcy so that they can impose socialism on us, and that’s exactly what they’re doing, and I’m sick and damn tired of it and I know you are too.”
He later apologised for the comments, but clearly felt that the damage was already done.
Though Ermey, also a longtime NRA board member, said he voted for Obama in the 2008 election, he later became disillusioned with the administration.
He told Fox News in 2016: “I’ve had a very fruitful career. I’ve done over 70 feature films.
“I’ve done over 200 episodes of [Outdoor Channel show GunnyTime]… and then [Hollywood] found out that I’m a Conservative.
“I’m an Independent, but I said something bad about the president. I had something unsavory to say about the president’s administration, and even though I did vote for him the first time around, I was blackballed.
“Do you realize I have not done a movie in five to six years? Why? Because I was totally blackballed by the…liberals in Hollywood.
“They can destroy you. They’re hateful people [who] don’t just not like you, they want to take away your livelihood. That’s why I live up in the desert on a dirt road. I don’t have to put up with their crap.”
He said that he was also fired from an advertising contract with the US car insurance company Geico over his remarks.
He told TMZ in 2012: “Geico fired me because I wasn’t too kind about the administration. If you’re a conservative in this town, you’d better watch out.”
Alongside his iconic role in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, he also appeared in movies including Apocalypse Now, Se7en and Mississippi Burning, as well as fronting TV shows for the Outdoor and History channels.
His long-time manager confirmed that he had died following complications with pneumonia on Sunday.
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