ABC/Eric McCandless(NEW YORK) — Kevin Bacon is telling his generation to take a seat. The actor recently appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he made an impassioned plea to “old white guys” like him to stop talking.
Bacon, 61, spoke with host Jimmy Fallon about the Black Lives Matter movement, where their conversation began deconstructing police brutality and systemic racism. However, the Footloose star was only willing to say so much.
“For an old guy like me, I was born in 1958, and to witness the passion of the young people across the world for social justice, it leaves me speechless,” he marveled, adding that it’s “probably a good idea, because I think it’s a good time for old white guys like me to just shut up and listen.”
“I really have been trying to take this as a time to first admit that I don’t have a full understanding of the life experience of people that are different than me,” Bacon added. “I will never have a full understanding of that.”
The Mystic River actor went on to detail why people his age and race may struggle with listening to a younger, more diverse crowd. “When I was a kid I thought I knew everything,” he explained. “I thought I knew everything about acting, everything about music, everything about politics, everything about people.”
Bacon went on to detail how his self-assuredness may have prevented him from truly opening his eyes to the struggles of others. “Basically, I just thought I just knew it all. I was a know-it-all,” he sighed. “And the older I’ve gotten the more I realized how much there is still to learn.”
Bacon hopes that other people his age use this time to learn about the struggles of others and become more informed.
By Megan Stone
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