Rainn Wilson, best known for playing Dwight Schrute on “The Office,” says political hypocrisy on both sides is deepening America’s divisions, while cancel culture has made it harder for comedy to take the kinds of risks that once defined shows like his.
Wilson told Fox News Digital that the current cultural and political climate would make it difficult for a series like “The Office” to be made today. He said the show often relied on uncomfortable, politically incorrect humor, especially through characters who were written to be deeply unaware of themselves.
“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.”
Wilson said much of the humor came from the fact that Dwight Schrute and Steve Carell’s Michael Scott were not meant to be admired for their behavior. Michael, in particular, was written as a clueless boss whose offensive comments often exposed his own ignorance.
“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.”
Beyond comedy, Wilson said one of the biggest problems in American politics is the tendency of people to excuse behavior from their own side while condemning the same behavior from their opponents. He argued that both Democrats and Republicans often apply moral standards selectively, depending on who is involved.
Wilson pointed to Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner as one example, citing the controversy over Platner’s tattoo that had been identified as a Nazi symbol.
“The political right is all up in arms about that ‘Oh, he’s a racist, see,’” Wilson said. “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.”
Wilson said the double standard is what frustrates him most.
“It’s the hypocrisy that gets me the most,” he said. “It’s the hypocrisy of like, both sides need to have, kind of, equal standards of behavior.”
Even with his concerns about the country’s political climate, Wilson said he believes faith and spirituality can offer common ground. He argued that Americans may have more shared values than the national conversation often suggests.
“There’s not any topic that has more commonality and mutuality than spiritual ideas,” Wilson said.
He added that spirituality has often been pulled into political conflict, even though many religious and moral traditions share similar ideas about service, humility and responsibility.
“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,” he said.
Wilson made the comments while appearing on Capitol Hill with Reps. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., along with several religious leaders. The event marked 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 seeks to encourage dialogue across political and ideological divides.
Wilson said Americans are tired of toxic partisanship and want a healthier public life.
“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.”
