You know there are few people I love more in Hollywood than Jon Hamm. He is perfection! Talented, handsome, generous, kind, intelligent, and he's something of a noted feminist (in my mind, at least). But The Hamm has another quality: he loathes stupidity. Much like Daniel Craig a few months ago, The Hamm is taking on the "celebration of stupidity" that he sees in reality stars like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Like, The Hamm actually name-dropped those two specifically in a new interview with Elle UK. He told the publication, "Whether it's Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian or whoever, stupidity is certainly celebrated. Being a f**king idiot is a valuable commodity in this culture because you're rewarded significantly. Incuriousness has become cool… It's celebrated. It doesn't make sense to me." Daniel Craig used that exact phrasing too – "f–king idiots" – to describe the Kardashians. Here's more from the interview:
Mad Men's Jon Hamm has hit out at the cult of celebrity that has made 'idiots' like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian into millionaires.
'Whether it's Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian or whoever, stupidity is certainly celebrated,' he told April's Elle UK magazine. 'Being a f**king idiot is a valuable commodity in this culture because you're rewarded significantly. Incuriousness has become cool… It's celebrated. It doesn't make sense to me.'
The Golden Globe winning actor says the success of reality TV stars 'doesn't make any sense' to him. He added that he also didn't understand why blonde, skinny women have become the epitome of beauty by modern society, saying curvy women like his Mad Men co-star Christina Hendricks are more beautiful.
On his own looks, he confesses he doesn't know why he has so many female admirers.
'I don't even consider myself handsome,' he said. 'When I look in the mirror I see my goofy-assed self from when I was a kid.'
The 40-year-old also said he won't get sucked into the Hollywood cult of eternal youth as spending hours having his hair done is 'not my game'.
His comments come as the new series of successful TV show Mad Men, in which he plays womanising advertising exec Don Draper, is due to air. The fifth series follows on from his character's shock proposal to his secretary Megan at the end of series four. But Hamm told the magazine he has no intentions of tying the knot in real life.
He has been with girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt for 15 years and says they don't need to get married to prove their commitment to one another.
'Having a piece of paper serves to remind you of your commitment, but we do a pretty good job of reminding each other,' he said.
[From The Mail]
As I said, Daniel Craig made a similar point, although I like The Hamm's argument a lot better. Daniel's argument centered around stupidity-for-profit, the audacity of selling everything about your stupid life to make an insane amount of money. The Hamm seems more offended by the celebration and promotion of stupidity and "incuriousness". Incuriousness is one of the major flaws of American society – we elect too many politicians who wear their lack of curiosity as a badge of honor, and ignorance (whether feigned or real) has because its own circus event. God, I love The Hamm.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
