Hollywood star John C. Reilly has been spending some time in Dublin this week promoting his new movie, Ralph Breaks The Internet.
The star of hugely popular movies such as Step Brothers and Guardians of the Galaxy, has strong Irish roots, with his father originally from Ireland, and has now revealed that he has been the target of some racist comments due to his heritage.
“Well, there is still a certain latent racism in England toward Irish people,” John told The Sunday Independent.
“So when I see a piece by some English writer that begins ‘I sat down with potato-faced John C Reilly’, I think to myself ‘Oh, really?’ I could make racial comparisons about people’s appearance but I wouldn’t do that.”
“Because it’s to do with something Irish, it’s couched in this sort of friendly twee way but, in fact, it is racism. I mean, even the whole ginger thing being a negative.
“That’s just another way of criticising Irish people. But hey, listen, we are all just hustlers out here, trying to sell our stories.
“Some English guy leading off with a description of how I look is just trying to get someone to notice the article. What some anonymous writer says about me actually doesn’t matter.”
The 53-year-old also revealed that he is in the process of getting Irish dual citizenship, so that he can live and work freely around Ireland and the rest of Europe.
With John’s Step Brothers co-star Will Ferrell recently purchasing a eight bedroom home in Co.Cavan, he could be looking at making the move too!
