Wil Wheaton Calls Dwayne Johnson a 'Coward' for Staying Quiet on Politics: 'So Disappointing'

Dwayne Johnson is catching flak on social media after he told Esquire magazine earlier this month that he will no longer speak publicly on politics. “Star Trek” icon George Takei is one of the Hollywood voices criticizing Johnson’s stance, writing on Threads: “Silence is complicity.”

via: EW

The Stand By Me actor called out the Jumanji: The Next Level star for declining to publicly comment on his political views.

"So disappointing to find out he is such a coward," Wheaton wrote on Threads on Monday.

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for Johnson for comment.

Wheaton is a vocal critic of President Trump, and previously campaigned for Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election.

Wheaton's comment came in response to a post by George Takei that quoted Esquire's recent profile of Johnson. "Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's recent comments to Esquire about wanting to 'keep my politics to myself' have divided fans, with some calling out his silence," Takei wrote.

Indeed, Johnson did speak at length about why he won't speak at length about politics during his conversation with Esquire last month after the outlet asked if he intentionally avoids talking about political matters to maximize the audience for his movies.

"What I have learned through experience," Johnson told the outlet, "is that I need to keep — need, not want — the main thing the main thing. And the main thing for me, the thing that in the morning I swing my legs out of bed and I run towards, is creating. It’s art. It’s storytelling."

Johnson explained that he doesn't want his politics to distract from his work, and that he's always open to having a conversation. "I’ve learned I’m going to keep my politics to myself," he said. "There are moments when, hey, there’s nothing we can’t talk about. If I’m wrong, I’ll tell you I’m wrong. Or if I feel like I got a leg up and this is the right way to go, I’ll share it with you."

He continued, "Politics is omnipresent and it’s forever. I don’t like it. [Laughs.] I hate it at times. I hate the slinging. I hate all the bulls--- that comes with it."

The Smashing Machine actor then told Esquire's reporter, who introduced the topic of politics via a comment about Bruce Springsteen's recent anti-Trump tour, that he thinks people who have political disagreements should talk to each other rather than calling each other out in public.

"When I hear you talk about Springsteen, who I love, and this idea that he’s speaking directly to Trump in his concerts, my first thought as you were telling me that, in my head, I went, 'Oh, then why don’t they talk?'" he said. "They should sit down and talk. I don’t know where that goes, but I do know that’s an important step.”

Johnson previously endorsed Joe Biden for president during the 2020 campaign, but in 2024, he told told Fox News' Will Cain that he regretted making an endorsement.

"The endorsement that I made years ago with Biden was one I thought was the best decision for me at that time… And I thought back then, when we talk about, 'Hey, you know, I'm in this position where I have some influence and it's my job then… to exercise my influence and share… this is who I'm going to endorse,'" he said in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.

"Am I gonna do that again this year? That answer is no, I'm not gonna do that, because what I realized — what that caused back then — was something that tears me up in my guts, back then and now, which is division," he continued. "And that got me. The takeaway after that, months and months and months, I started to realize, like, 'Oh man, that caused an incredible amount of division in our country.'"