Rainn Wilson, best known for playing Dwight Schrute on hit sitcom “The Office,” says partisan hypocrisy on both sides of the political aisle is fueling America’s divisions, while arguing that cancel culture has stifled modern-day comedy.
Wilson told Fox News Digital that cancel culture, a result of growing political divisions, has damaged the ability for a comedy in a show like “The Office” to thrive and be acceptable in today’s society.
“I do feel like you couldn’t make The Office today,” Wilson said. “I think that would be too hard to be as politically incorrect as the show was. And I do, I do kind of miss that.”
He explained how, despite that both his character and actor Steve Carell’s role as Michael Scott, were purposely portrayed as lacking “self-awareness” and “a boob,” the humor still would not fly or be viewed as socially acceptable in today’s society.
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“We milked that for a lot of great, really inappropriate stuff,” Wilson said. “But even with the fact that painting that character as just an idiot, I don’t think you could get away with it today.”
Aside from comedy, Wilson said one of the biggest drivers of America’s political dysfunction is what he described as partisan hypocrisy, with both Republicans and Democrats quick to condemn misconduct of the opposing party while overlooking similar behavior on their own side.
Wilson used the response to Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner’s list of growing scandals throughout his campaign as an example, specifically citing the reaction to his Nazi tattoo as racist or religious discrimination.
“The political right is all up in arms about that ‘Oh, he’s a racist, see,’” Wilson explained. “But they won’t look at their own side when people show racist tendencies or say racist things. And it’s the same on the left. They’re willing to overlook the Platner Nazi tattoo, but if it was someone from the other side that had a tattoo that was questionable, they would be all over MSNBC about it.”
“It’s the hypocrisy that gets me the most. It’s the hypocrisy of like, both sides need to have, kind of, equal standards of behavior.”
Despite his concerns about political division, Wilson argued that faith and spirituality remain one of the country’s most overlooked sources of common ground.
“There’s not any topic that has more commonality and mutuality than spiritual ideas,” Wilson said.
“The ideas around spirituality have kind of been weaponized in terms of the national discussion, but actually the two sides have more in common than you would think.”
Wilson made the remarks while appearing on Capitol Hill alongside Reps. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., and religious leaders for the public release of A Common Endeavor: Realizing the Promise of America, a five-part letter backed by leaders of the Baha’i faith that works to bridge political polarization and focus on shared American values.
“The partisan divide and toxic partisanship, and corruption in partisanship, is something that the American people are very passionate about,” Wilson said.
“The people want this fixed. There is an outcry from people. They want it fixed.”
‘The Office’ star blasts political ‘hypocrisy,’ explains why sitcom couldn’t be made today 2026 IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2025 2026-06-14 08:55:54 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
