Back in March, veteran actor Sam Elliott made some tasteless comments about Jane Campion’s compelling western thriller “Power of The Dog” while appearing on the WTF podcast. Elliot took issue with the “piece of shit” film about the American West having been shot by a woman from New Zealand and was upset about the story’s homosexual overtones. Campion herself responded in kind, calling him a “bitch” and reminding Elliott that he is just an actor, not a cowboy.
Campion went on to win Best Director for the film at the Academy Awards, and Elliott made a big apology during Deadline’s Contenders TV event Sunday while promoting his “Yellowstone” prequel series “1883” that is airing on Paramount+.
“I told [Marc Maron] that I thought Jane Campion was a brilliant director, and I want to apologize to the cast of The ‘Power of the Dog,’ brilliant actors all,” Elliott said. “And in particular Benedict Cumberbatch. I can only say that I’m sorry, and I am. I am.”
Elliott continued to elaborate, “I wasn’t very articulate about it. I didn’t articulate it very well. And I said some things that hurt people, and I feel terrible about that. The gay community has been incredible to me my entire career. And I mean my entire career, from before I got started in this town. Friends on every level and every job description up until today. I’m sorry I hurt any of those friends and someone that I loved. And anyone else by the words that I used.”
While it’s nice that the actor is apologizing, he seemed to backtrack from his criticisms and suggested he shouldn’t have done the Maron podcast to begin with.
If you’re unfamiliar with Campion’s complete response to Elliott’s original comments, here it is:
“I think it’s really unfortunate and sad for him because he’s really hit the trifecta of misogyny and xenophobia and homophobia,” Campion said of Elliott’s comments. “I don’t like that. I think he was being a little bit of a b-i-t-c-h. Plus, he’s not a cowboy; he’s an actor.”
While likely a prepared statement of some sort, it certainly comes off as a genuine statement of regret. While juxtaposed next to the original comments, which are pretty hateful, it might be a bitter pill to accept, but maybe we just need to accept the words, move on and hope they’re not repeated again.