Alan Ritchson, the guy who plays the hulking hero on Amazon's hit show Reacher, decided that the best way to promote his new film Motor City was to go on a profanity-laced tirade accusing President Donald Trump of horrific crimes against minors. Turns out, moviegoers were not exactly inspired to rush out and buy tickets. As reported by The American Tribune, the film pulled in a whopping $1.6 million during its opening weekend across 1,600 theaters. For those keeping score at home, that works out to roughly $1,015 per screen, landing it in 18th place overall. Eighteenth! The movie had a $30 million budget, so this is basically the financial equivalent of flushing stacks of cash down a gold-plated toilet.
The film itself is set in 1977 Detroit and follows Ritchson's character John Miller, who makes the questionable life decision of falling for a dangerous gangster's girlfriend. He gets framed for a crime he never committed, thrown in prison, breaks out, and then goes on a revenge rampage against the gangster and his crew. Sounds like a perfectly fine action flick, honestly. Too bad the star couldn't resist turning his press tour into a one-man political meltdown.
While appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with host Josh Horowitz, Ritchson launched into what can only be described as a volcanic eruption of F-bombs and fury. He started by insisting he's not a loose cannon, which is always a reassuring thing to hear right before someone completely loses it. He demanded the Epstein files be released, screamed about pedophiles, apologized to God for cursing (mid-curse, naturally), and then accused the sitting president of being "all up into 13-year-olds."
Here's the thing though. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Trump administration has actually released 3.5 million pages connected to deceased billionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. While those files reportedly contain an allegation regarding the president and a minor, there is zero evidence supporting the claim. Trump has never been criminally charged or found civilly liable for any abuse connected to Epstein. So Ritchson essentially went nuclear on a podcast over something that amounts to an unsubstantiated allegation, which legal experts might call getting dangerously close to slander territory.
The actor also proudly declared, "This is my politics, dude," while sweating through his righteous fury. He claimed he would personally obtain the Epstein files in two seconds if given the chance. Bold strategy from a guy whose actual job is pretending to be tough on camera.
Look, everyone's entitled to their opinions. But when your promotional strategy for a $30 million movie involves screaming obscenities about the president on a podcast, and then your film earns less per screen than a mid-tier lemonade stand, maybe it's time to reconsider the marketing approach. Just a thought.
Read more American news stories at: The American Tribune
