Anthony Mackie Says ‘Chill the F— Out’ Over Comparing Red Hulk to Donald Trump, Responds to Fan Who Called Him the ‘Rudest Celebrity’

Anthony Mackie told Esquire magazine during a new cover story that playing Captain America “is my Oscar because I’ve been overlooked so many times in my career.” The actor says there are least four performances of his that deserved award nominations (“Brother to Brother,” “Half Nelson, “The Banker” and “The Hurt Locker”), and yet he was snubbed every time. So he’s making “Captain America: Brave New World” his Oscars moment, as he’s finally leading a Marvel tentpole after 11 years in the franchise.

“The expectations of what comes along with this role is something that nobody talks about,” Mackie told the magazine about becoming Captain America. “Nobody really acknowledges the mental jousting that takes place. When I walk out of this hotel, I don’t walk out of this hotel as Anthony Mackie. I walk out of this hotel as Captain America.”

Mackie said “Brave New World” is “literally the best movie it can be,” adding: “It stays in the lines of Marvel. It stays in the lines of Captain America, and it’s fun and it’s big.” But one thing the actor is not looking forward to is the politicization of the Marvel tentpole. After all, “Brave New World” stars Harrison Ford as the U.S. president who transforms into the volatile Red Hulk. Comparisons to Donald Trump were likely inevitable and have already become a regular thing online prior to the movie’s theatrical release.

“I hope, as a country, we’re tired of all the political jousting,” Mackie said when asked if fans making inevitable comparisons between Red Hulk and Trump, especially now that the latter is back in the White House. “Let’s just go to the movies and chill the fuck out. We could’ve made this motherfucker yellow and it would’ve been a problem.”

Esquire also asked Mackie about another online discourse that emerged in recent months, one that claims Mackie is the “rudest celebrity” some fans have met in real life. One story that went viral on social media was told by a young woman who claimed that Mackie once pulled up in a “huge fucking truck” next to her at a gas station, started smoking a cigar and then rejected her when she tried to engage with him as a fan.

Per Esquire: “Mackie recalls the interaction differently. He was already having a bad week—someone had recently found his phone number. One hundred twenty missed calls. AI death threats. He pulled into the gas station and this woman ‘jumps out of the car and I simply looked at her and said, “No,”‘ he recalls. Plus, he adds, another hole in the story: What idiot smokes next to a gas pump?”

Head over to Esquire’s website to read Mackie’s cover story in its entirety.