It has never been easier to ignore Stephen Seagal. The martial arts star is not exactly ubiquitous in late night talk shows. The action hits from its heyday do not adorn the banners at the top of Netflix. Generations of children will have reached adulthood without ever hearing the words, “Hey, how about we go see that new Steven Seagal movie?”
Seagal continues to make films, mostly direct to video, although the brilliance of thirties from the early 1990s such as “Hard Killing” and “Under Siege” has long since faded to nothing. Over the past three decades, Seagal has faced numerous allegations of sexual harassment and sexual violence (all of which he has denied). This may have contributed to his drastic fall from the Hollywood mainstream, but it’s not the only factor. Even during his pomp, Seagal was known as a high-octane slag trader, a man of all martial arts whose ability to engage convincingly in any kind of dialogue was rather out of the question. Over the past few years, Seagal’s film work has migrated to obscure streaming productions (and the 2017 Chinese film The Chinese Merchant, which also stars Mike Tyson). But he found a new way to hold people’s attention: as one of Hollywood’s few voice cheerleaders for Russia.
As early as 2018, Vladimir Putin appointed Seagal special envoy to Russia to improve relations with the United States. Seagal, a 2016 Russian citizen, made headlines in recent months with brazen statements about the war in Ukraine (a country he was barred from entering in 2017 after being considered a “threat to national security”). ). On Sunday (April 10th), the actor spoke at a 70th birthday dinner held in his honor at a Moscow restaurant, attended by a number of prominent Putin allies, including Russian state TV presenter Vladimir Soleviev, described by The Guardian as “one of the country’s most famous propagandists ”and Russian journalist Margarita Simonyan, both on the EU sanctions list). Speaking to the crowd, he told them, “I love you all and we stand together, through the thick and through the thin.”
That Seagal will harbor such sentiments should come as no shock: he had previously described Putin as “one of the world’s greatest leaders, if not the greatest world leader alive today.” In 2014, he described Russia’s annexation of Crimea as “very reasonable.” It may come as no surprise that people – including popular American podcaster Joe Rogan – were tricked earlier this year into sharing a fake CNN report about the actor, who falsely claims that Seagal joined Russian special forces stationed nearby. to Kyiv. For most celebrities, such a story would be as transparently fabricated as they come. With Seagal, obviously, everything seems plausible.
What’s wrong with Seagal, which makes him such a cheap tabloid curiosity? At some level, the attraction is deep in the skin. He is a strange-looking man by Hollywood standards: with his dark glasses, impressive frame and thick as a shoe brush goat’s chin, his aesthetics attract the eye and do not let go. His career has been filled with behind-the-scenes stories of dysfunction, whether it’s his grim stay as host of Saturday Night Live or alleged confrontations with colleagues and stunt coordinators. But Seagal’s love affair with Russia hides only grim magnetism.
At a time when celebrities are stumbling to make themselves clear about how fervently they oppose Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Seagal is disgusting. Even Gerard Depardieu, a Russian citizen who had previously praised the Putin regime, condemned the war, sparking a backlash from the Kremlin. But again, Seagal is strange to Hollywood in almost every sense of the word – an exile whose only cultural relevance comes in the form of a handful of vivid thrillers from about 30 years ago. His words don’t hold anyone back, really, no matter how unpleasant they are. If a supporter is knocked down by throwing aikido in the woods and no one around can hear it, does it make a sound?
Now, before anyone mentions it, there is obviously a certain amount of irony in dedicating a column of 750 words to a person I argue should be treated globally in silence. But that’s the problem with Seagal. Once it’s in your peripheral vision, it’s hard not to look. However, when the dust settles and Putin is tried in the cold light of history, Seagal will be little more than a strange, unfortunate footnote.
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