BAIT AND SWITCH

‘The Office’ Star Rips Fox News for ‘Hijacking’ His Words

Rainn Wilson said his comments were used as “clickbait MAGA power.”

The Office star Rainn Wilson slammed Fox News and other right-wing outlets for using his comments about the show to push a narrative about “political correctness.”

Wilson appeared on comedian Tim Heidecker’s Office Hours podcast on Friday, where he declared, “F--- you, Fox News,” after he told the network that The Office wouldn’t be made in the current political climate.

“I do feel like you couldn’t make The Office today,” Wilson, who portrayed Dwight Schrute on The Office across all nine seasons, said in an interview with Fox News last month. “I think that would be too hard to be as politically incorrect as the show was. And I do, I do kind of miss that.”

He added, “It’s the hypocrisy that gets me the most. It’s the hypocrisy of like, both sides need to have, kind of, equal standards of behavior.”

Fox reported his comments with the headline, “The Office’ star blasts political ‘hypocrisy,’” which Wilson said Friday was an unfair characterization. Far-right commentator Ben Shapiro praised Wilson’s comments on his podcast.

“Here’s the problem. Everything in our world is so partisan that ‘Rainn Wilson says, ‘Oh, you could never make The Office today’—Fox hijacks that,” Wilson said on Friday.

Heidecker joked that the network touted the comments as, “Rainn Wilson is one of us,” to which Wilson grimaced.

“F--- you, Ben Shapiro. And f--- you, Fox News,” Wilson said.

He still stands by his “valid” take about the show, however.

“Look, so we were on network television. We’re making 21-minute 30-second episodes. And what we were doing was considered pretty edgy for network television,” he said, defending his comments. “It is an opinion that I have.”

He’s also faced criticism from his left-leaning buddies, he revealed.

“I get it from both sides,” he said. “I got texts from people I’d worked with, like, ‘Would you shut up about that?’” The problem with Fox’s coverage, Wilson said, is that his comments were used as “clickbait MAGA power.”

“You see that? He’s on our side, and he’s against political correctness,” Wilson said, summarizing his view of Fox’s perspective.

It’s not the first time that Wilson was lauded by Fox News for his comments. Last April, he slammed the network for making him a “MAGA hero,” after he declared, “Left-leaning news media organizations… were kind of like, ‘La la la la, everything’s fine. Look, the economy is great, la la la, immigration’s not that much of a problem,’ and really being Cleopatra, queen of denial,” during a conversation with MS NOW host Stephanie Ruhle on his Soul Boom podcast.

Heidecker told Wilson that his first mistake this time around was discussing politics with the network.

“Don’t even go on f---ing Fox News,” Heidecker said. “Don’t even give them the satisfaction of thinking that they have you as an ally. They’re so complicit in the fascist turn that this country’s taking.”

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Eboni Boykin-PattersonEntertainment Reporter

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