Donald Trump has enraged a lot of people over the years with his stunts, but one, in particular, had Michael J. Fox really seething: When he mocked Serge Kovaleski, a disabled reporter, with an apparent impression of him during one of his rallies. This hit Fox even harder because he himself was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease back in 1991.
In an interview with the New York Times in 2019, he dished out at the president, saying,
We have a working relationship with the government. Trump is not sitting around thinking about Parkinson’s. But one thing that angered me is when he mocked that reporter. That was a stab to the guts. Not just for me, but for people I know and work with, who try so hard to overcome other people’s atavistic aversion to anybody that moves differently.
For more context, the Canadian actor-activist was talking about The Michael J. Fox Foundation, an organization he founded that helps fund research for Parkinson’s disease, when he addressed the administration’s apparent skepticism toward science. Continuing, the Back to the Future star added,
I thought, Do I say something in response? Then I thought, People already know Trump is an [expletive].
Sounds like Donald Trump isn’t really in Fox’s good books!
Donald Trump Mocked a Disabled Reporter in 2015
Donald Trump. | Credits: Image by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America / Licensed under CC by SA 2.0 / Via Wikimedia Commons.
The incident that Michael J. Fox was referring to in his interview dates back to November 2015, when a South Carolina rally had Trump mocking Serge Kovaleski and calling him “a nice reporter.” An investigative reporter for the New York Times, Kovaleski has arthrogryposis, a condition that affects the joint movement in his hand and arm.
Talking about him, Trump said, “Now the poor guy, you gotta see this guy,” before launching into an apparent impression of Kovaleski as the president waved his arms around with his hands at an odd angle. Trump continued (via BBC News),
Uhh, I don’t know what I said. Uhh, I don’t remember. He’s going like ‘I don’t remember. Maybe that’s what I said.’
This incident, of course, called for a lot of ruckus and negative media attention for Trump. A New York Times spokeswoman even said about Trump to Politico: “We think it’s outrageous that he would ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters.“
The president, on the other hand, denied making fun of Kovaleski, with a statement issued by his campaign reading (via The Guardian),
I have no idea who this reporter, Serge Kovalski [sic], is, what he looks like, or his level of intelligence. Despite having one of the all-time great memories, I certainly do not remember him. I don’t know if he is [Houston Texans defensive end] JJ Watt or Muhammad Ali in his prime – or somebody of less athletic ability.
That statement itself speaks volumes about Donald Trump’s perspective on the matter. But while others may have let it pass, Michael J. Fox has taken pretty much every opportunity to take clever digs at the prez any chance he gets.
Michael J. Fox Has Taken a Few Jabs at Donald Trump Over the Years
Michael J. Fox in a still from Spin City. | Credit: ABC.
Michael J. Fox hasn’t been light on his criticism of Donald Trump. In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, he shared how he feels the president has played on “every worst instinct in mankind.” Fox said,
Every worst instinct in mankind has been played on [by Trump], and for me that’s just anathema. Biff is president!
“Biff” is the bullying villain from the actor’s super-famous Back to the Future saga, in which he starred as Marty McFly. In 2015, even screenwriter Bob Gale, who helped in the making of Back to the Future Part II, said the character of Biff was also loosely based on Trump (via The Daily Beast).
Fox also once again confronted the thought of the president mocking that disabled reporter, even taking a swipe at him. He said to The Guardian,
When you see your particular group mocked, it’s such a gut punch. It’s so senseless and cheap. There’s no way I get up in the morning and mock orange people.
Then there was how, in February 2020, Fox endorsed former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg ahead of the party’s primaries, describing him as a “very stable Rhodes scholar.” This was a clever jab at Trump’s self-description as a “very stable genius.” He added to the laughter, saying, “That’s what the J stands for,” referring to Trump’s middle name (via The Hill).
Not to mention, that same year, he even revealed on The View that he believes his Republican Family Ties character, Alex P. Keaton, wouldn’t be a fan of President Trump if that show was on today: “I think he would have liked a lot of these [Republican] guys, but I don’t think he would have dug Trump.”
Well, all of this just further emphasizes the fact that Michael J. Fox has never been one to shy away from speaking truth with wit, and his criticism of Donald Trump proves just that.
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