Why Chris Pratt Is Currently The Internet’s Least Favourite Chris
Chris Pratt #ChrisPratt
Chris Pratt, Chris Pine, Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans all have a lot in common. For starters, they share the same name. Secondly, they’ve all starred in big budget Hollywood superhero movies. Determining the best Chris – aka ‘the Chris wars’ – is hardly a new concept, and there have been articles dating back to 2017 on the divisive topic. But thanks to Twitter, we’re all debating the famous Chrises again. And Guardians of the Galaxy’s Chris Pratt hasn’t come out of it well. At all.
Tweeting photos of each of the Chrises, last week writer Amy Berg asked which of the Chrises had to go. Quickly, Pratt’s name started trending because most people agree he should – hypothetically – leave the famous Chris club.
It’s all kicked off since then, with Chris’ wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger has publicly defending him, saying on Instagram: ‘Is this really what we need? There’s so much going on in the world and people are struggling in so many ways. Being mean is so yesterday. There’s enough room to love all these guys. Love is what we all need not meanness and bullying. Let’s try that.’
Other MCU stars have also spoken out about the tweets, with Iron Man Robert Downey Jr saying on social media: ‘What a world… The “sinless” are casting stones at my brother, Chris Pratt… A real Christian who lives by principle, has never demonstrated anything but positivity and gratitude… AND he just married into a family that makes space for civil discourse and (just plain fact) INSISTS on service as the highest value.’
He continued: ‘If you take issue with Chris… I’ve got a novel idea. Delete your social media accounts, sit with your OWN defects of character, work on THEM, then celebrate your humanness… @prattprattpratt I #gotyerbackbackback.’
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And Hulk star Mark Ruffalo joined Schwarzenegger and Downey Jr by adding: ‘You all, @prattprattpratt is as solid a man there is. I know him personally, and instead of casting aspersions, look at how he lives his life. He is just not overtly political as a rule. This is a distraction. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize, friends. We are so close now.’
But why? Why does the internet dislike Chris Pratt so much? Well, let’s try to explain.
As many pointed out, it’s believed Pratt is a Trump supporter. He’s not publicly said as much, but back in July, Pratt received backlash after he was spotted wearing a T-shirt with the Gadsden flag, a symbol which has been adopted by white supremacists. ‘Dammit,’ one tweet read. ‘I am literally just finding out that Chris Pratt is a Trump supporter and I am so messed up behind that.’
This isn’t the only reason – many users pointed out how Pratt attends Hillsong Church, which was founded by an anti-marriage equality pastor Brian Houston, who has previously said the church does not ‘affirm a gay lifestyle’. Pratt has actually responded to those allegations last year, after actress Ellen Page called him out, writing on Instagram that Hillsong ‘opens their doors to absolutely everyone.’
He’s also a hunter. In 2018, the actor lost a lot of fans for posting a video in his full hunting gear celebrating the new season of hunting. But the fact Pratt is a hunter has been known for ages. ‘I have a great deal of respect for the animals that I kill and I feel remorse and all of the emotions that come with it,’ he told the Guardian in back in 2015. When the interviewer asked him to explain why he would kill something if he felt remorse – fair point! – he added: ‘The thing inside me that drives me to go out and hunt is very animal. But the remorse, emotion and respect I feel, and the closeness to God that I feel when I’m out there, is my humanity. It’s an opportunity for me to explore what parts of me are animal and what parts of me are human.’
So, politics, basic human rights, hunting and religion aside, many also dislike Pratt for divorcing ex-wife Anna Faris. The pair met on the set of Take Me Home Tonight in 2007, when Anna was far more famous than Chris. When Anna left her husband Ben Indra at the end of filming, she and Chris immediately began dating. It all looked like it was going to be happy ever after the couple and Pratt even said in one interview that he knew he wanted to marry Anna the first day he met her. They actually married in 2009, having son Jack in 2012. But in 2013, as Pratt’s profile started to rise and he became a leading man, it became clear that the marriage was coming to an end. The pair split in 2017, and three months after their divorce finalised in 2018, Chris began dating Katherine Schwarzenegger – yes, that’s the daughter of former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger – who he married in June 2019.
Should he stay or should he go? The internet seems to have made its decision.
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