Fame may have given Chris Pratt money and worldwide recognition but he’s admitting there are some things he can no longer do now that he’s successful.
In an interview with KIIS FM’s “The Smallzy Show”on Thursday, January 22, Pratt, 46, admitted he could no longer make the same type of “inappropriate” jokes online that he often used to now that he’s famous.
Pratt made the candid remarks after Smallzy, 41, asked whether making his new sci-fi thriller Mercy made him think twice about any of his own past online behavior.
“Well, I don’t know that it was necessarily the movie that taught me that, but I feel as though the entire collective of humanity is learning this lesson at the same time,” Pratt said. “And yes, I am now increasingly guarded over what I put out on the internet.”
He continued, “I mean, when Twitter, back when X was Twitter, came out, I might have had 100 people that followed me, all of whom were close people that I would say inappropriate things to, behind closed doors to make them laugh. And so, I would do that on Twitter. And then before long I was like, oh, I have 60 million people on here who follow me. I cannot say those things.”
The Guardians of the Galaxy star went on to share an analogy to explain why his jokes may now lead to backlash when the same type of comments made in his past were less likely to cause offence.
“It’s like I saw this funny article about boats. Like what you name your boat. And if you have a $200 fishing boat and you call it the ‘Salty Hooker,’ it’s pretty funny. But if you have a $200 million yacht and you call it the ‘Salty Hooker;’ you’ll become a pariah in society,” he said. “So, social media is kind of the same thing. Like, the bigger your following gets, the more you have to narrow your behavior and really rein it in.”
Pratt is currently promoting his upcoming film Mercy, which also stars Rebecca Ferguson. The movie delves into issues surrounding fast-developing technology, focusing on an AI-led judicial system.
Mercy follows detective Chris Raven (played by Pratt), who becomes a prime suspect in a murder case and is put on trial by the AI-led judicial system.
Speaking to Forbes on Friday, January 23, Pratt shared what to expect from the film.
“This is 90-plus minutes of just pulse-pounding entertainment and action. I think it’s a bit of a throwback in that way. It deals with some very serious and resonant themes around AI and justice and morality and all that stuff, but ultimately, it’s not a think piece,” Pratt told the outlet. “This is something that you’re supposed to sit down, be sitting in a chair, throw on some 3D glasses and just get kind of blasted with this edge-of-your-seat experience.”
Despite the movie’s subject matter, Pratt waxed lyrical about the positive possibilities of artificial intelligence.
“I kind of love it. I’m cautiously optimistic. I think it’s really fun,” he told Australia’s Today show on Tuesday, January 20. “It’s an incredible tool as it pertains to me and my industry, I don’t see that it’ll ever replace the craftsmen. There’s a certain sense of inevitability that big business is going to streamline their companies by using this incredible tool.
He added, “But the minute it tries to replace humanity, I just don’t think that it can or will because it unfortunately lacks a soul and I think that’s the key to incredible art.”
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