Dwayne Johnson has released a statement to set the record straight, claiming that UK tabloid the Daily Star completely fabricated a recent front-page interview with him, in which he has a go at the millennial generation, blaming them for the death of comedy.
The ‘interview’, which was picked up by news outlets around the world, was billed as an exclusive chat with Johnson, and he was quoted as saying: “This generation are looking for a reason to be offended; generation snowflake are actually putting us backwards.”
“This generation are looking for a reason to be offended; generation snowflake are actually putting us backwards,” – The Rock makes the front page of Friday’s Daily Star: https://t.co/aqh1l347bS #WWE #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/1Q6DZZMuOQ
— GRcadeWrestling (@GRcadeWrestling) January 11, 2019
The article also contains the statement “if you are not agreeing with them then they are offended – and that is not what so many great men and women fought for.”
Many were surprised by the tone of the interview, not least of all, Dwayne Johnson himself, who has since taken to Instagram to release a video, explaining that he never spoke with the Daily Star and that the quotes attributed to him are fake.
“I can’t believe I have to do this again and set the record straight on something but I’m happy to do it,” he said. “The interview never took place, never happened, never said any of those words, completely untrue, 100% fabricated, I was quite baffled when I woke up this morning.”
“You know it’s not a real DJ interview if I’m insulting a group, a generation or anyone, because that’s not me, that’s not who I am and that’s not what we do,” he continued. “I always encourage empathy. I encourage growth, but most importantly, I encourage everybody to be exactly who they want to be.”
The Daily Star has since deleted the article from its website.
