British actor Rupert Everett has apologized for comments he made during an interview, where he claimed British troops "are such wimps now!" and that the "point of being in the army is going to war and getting yourself blown up."
The chat with the 49-year-old, promoting his new movie 'The Victorian Sex Explorer' where he plays explorer Sir Richard Burton, has made headlines worldwide.
"In Burton's day they were itching to get into the fray," Everett told The Sunday Telegraph. "Now it is the opposite. They are always whining about the dangers of being killed. Oh my God, they are such wimps now!
"The whole point of being in the Army is wanting to get killed, wanting to test yourself to the limits. Now you have to fly 15,000ft above the war zone to avoid getting hit. I don't think there is any point in having wars if that's how you're going to behave. It's pathetic. All this whining!"
He adds, "The whole point of being in the Army is going to war and getting yourself blown up. That and pissing on prisoners. Yet we all get shocked by Abu Ghraib."
Everett's apology was released "without reserve" on Tuesday (June 10) to the "many in this country, and hundreds and thousands of others across the world who have lost their brothers and sisters, their fathers and mothers to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and all the countless others".
"I never meant at any point to question the bravery of those who lose their lives, or survive, but without arms or legs. Just seeing these people in my mind's eye right now makes me feel a terrible anguish."
The actor also offered an apology for talking "flippantly about torture and our attitude towards it," however, states that, "You cannot be politically correct in a war."
"My flippant and irresponsible behaviour arises from a deep frustration at the fact that we seem to be continually making war, dreaming up new ones, instead of doing everything we can to avoid them."
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Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
