News Analysis India

Tag: Capitol attack

  • Chuck Norris denies being at Capitol attack after lookalike’s image goes viral

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Veteran action star Chuck Norris has denied that he was part of the mob that attacked the Capitol Hill last week.

    The 80-year-old actor’s name was trending through Tuesday after a picture was uploaded to Twitter, showing a Donald Trump supporter next to a man with a likeness to Norris, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

    Norris, however, denied that he was the man in the photo, asserting that he is not a person who will break the law.

    “I recently learned there was a Chuck Norris lookalike at the DC Capitol riots. It wasn’t me and I wasn’t there. There is no room for violence of any kind in our society. I am and always will be for Law and Order,” he tweeted.

    I recently learned there was a Chuck Norris lookalike at the DC Capitol riots. It wasn’t me and I wasn’t there. There is no room for violence of any kind in our society. I am and always will be for Law and Order.Your friend, Chuck Norris pic.twitter.com/LruKwViWRL
    — Chuck Norris (@chucknorris) January 12, 2021

    A spokesperson for the actor also denied that Norris was part of the mob that attacked Capitol Hill, insisting that the action hero was actually thousands of miles away from Washington DC.

    “This is not Chuck Norris and is a wannabe lookalike, although Chuck is much more handsome. Chuck remains on his ranch in Texas where he has been with his family,” the representative said in a statement.

    Last week, the Trump supporters clashed with police at the Capitol, where members of Congress were going through the process of counting and certifying the Electoral College votes.

    The violent attack resulted in at least five deaths and interrupting a constitutional process to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the election.

  • George Clooney says Capitol attack put Trump family ‘into the dustbin of history’

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star George Clooney has condemned the attack on the Capitol Hill in the US by thousands of supporters of Donald Trump saying that the president’s name will now forever be associated with “insurrection”.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, during an appearance on the The Business weekly podcast, “The Midnight Sky” star said it was “devastating” to watch the people’s house being “desecrated”.

    “This puts Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. Ivanka, all of them, into the dustbin of history. That name will now forever be associated with insurrection,” Clooney said.

    The Trump supporters on Wednesday clashed with police at the Capitol, where members of the Congress were going through the process of counting and certifying the Electoral College votes.

    The violent attack resulted in at least four deaths and interrupting a constitutional process to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the election.

    Clooney said the incident was “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.

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    “It is also a tremendous overreach in a way — everybody kept waiting for, what’s the one thing, the straw that breaks the camel’s back and it just seemed like that line just kept getting moved and moved and moved and outrage didn’t even matter anymore, even to the point of calling the Secretary of State in Georgia and pressuring him. None of that seemed to matter. This mattered.”

    The 59-year-old actor believes something hopeful will come out of this “disaster”.

    “If this is what it takes to set us on the right path, I think that, not that it’s worth it, it’s not worth it in any shape or form, but at least we should find something hopeful to come out of some of this disaster,” he said.

    Prior to Clooney, Hollywood stars Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, James Mangold, Sacha Baron Cohen, Josh Gadh, James Gunn, veteran singer Stevie Wonder, Selena Gomez and rapper Cardi B among others criticised the attack.

    On Friday, Trump also condemned the violent supporters who stormed the US Capitol, saying they do not represent America, as he vowed to ensure a peaceful and smooth transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden.

    “Now, Congress has certified the results a new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power,” he said.

  • Demi Lovato channels her anger through music after storming of US Capitol

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: After violent protestors stormed the United States Capitol on Wednesday (local time), American singer and songwriter Demi Lovato expressed her frustration online and announced that she is recording ‘something special’ regarding the events of the traumatic day.

    According to E! News, the ‘Skyscraper’ singer took to her Twitter handle and commented on the day’s harrowing events. She wrote, “My heart is broken. It makes me sad to believe how naive I was to think this couldn’t possibly happen, and yet it did. Here we are,” while retweeting a message from the Black Lives Matter movement’s official account.

    My heart is broken. It makes me to sad to believe how naive I was to think this couldn’t possibly happen, and yet it did. Here we are. For everyone in my comments saying “where’s d7” or wanting me to sing instead of speaking up about what needs to change in this country… pic.twitter.com/md5XPFmj2B
    — Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) January 7, 2021

    Lovato further added, “For everyone in my comments saying ‘where’s d7’ or wanting me to sing instead of speaking up about what needs to change in this country…”

    As per E! News, the 28-year-old singer announced that she is recording some type of commentary on the events of this traumatic day. She did not specify if the music had been written prior to the unrest at the Capitol, nor did she give any further details about what to expect from it, but the posts led her name to start trending on Twitter.

    She continued, “THIS IS WHY I POST AS MUCH AS I DO, THIS IS WHY I CARE. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN ANY F–KING MORE. I’m angry, embarrassed and ashamed. I’m in the studio working on something special after today’s assault on democracy. #impeachtrumptonight.”

    Lovato who is known for her opinionated views on different platforms had recently called out social media influencers on her Instagram Story who are vacationing amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

  • ‘Inexcusable act of carnage, chaos’: Hollywood and Bollywood react sharply to US Capitol attack

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES/ MUMBAI: Several cinema and music personalities, including Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Cardi B, Richa Chadha, and Vir Das, have condemned the attack on the Capitol Hill in the US by thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump who clashed with police, calling it an act of “terror” and assault on democracy.

    The violent attack resulted in at least four deaths and interrupting a constitutional process to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the election.

    The police, outnumbered by the maskless protesters, had a tough time in managing the mob, as hundreds of protesters breached security and entered the Capitol building on Wednesday, where members of the Congress were going through the process of counting and certifying the Electoral College votes.

    Many pointed out the difference in police response to the rioters at the Capitol building and protesters for the Black Lives Matter movement. “Imagine if this was our side. There would be rivers of our blood in the streets and not a single one of us would be armed. This has been allowed. #CoupAttempt,” wrote Ruffalo.

    Imagine if this was our side. There would be rivers of our blood in the streets and not a single one of us would be armed. This has been allowed. #CoupAttempt
    — Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) January 6, 2021

    “Just think of the carnage had they not been white. So many people enabled this,” said Evans. Oscar-winning director Matthew A Cherry said they would have “dropped a whole bomb on the capitol if this was us”.

    The irony is pretty funny………weren’t people just wild animals in the summer for demanding justice and now?……Let me just watch.
    — iamcardib (@iamcardib) January 6, 2021

    Cardi B found the irony “funny” and the rapper asked, “Weren’t people just wild animals in the summer for demanding justice – and now?”

    Democracy is fragile, everywhere…needs to be saved from “leaders” everywhere.
    — TheRichaChadha (@RichaChadha) January 6, 2021

    Chadha said it was a “dark day” for America, describing the country an “erstwhile spreader of offshore democracy”. “Democracy is fragile, everywhere…needs to be saved from ‘leaders’ everywhere,” she tweeted.

    All these world leaders condemning the ‘shocking images’ from America. This is an architectural problem.We need to design leader houses with more windows. So they can see their own back yards.
    — Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 7, 2021

    Das said world leaders condemning these ‘shocking images’ from America was an “architectural problem”. “We need to design leader houses with more windows. So they can see their own back yards,” he tweeted.

    What mob anarchy looks like. #MAGATerrorists #CapitolBuilding #USA pic.twitter.com/Ho825sAVH5
    — Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) January 6, 2021

    Sharing pictures of the attack on Twitter, actor Swara Bhasker said this is “what mob anarchy looks like”. Both the House and Senate and the entire Capitol were placed under a lockdown. Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers were evacuated to safe locations.

    Four people died on Wednesday, including one woman who was shot by a police officer, amid protests and rioting on Capitol Hill that resulted in dozens of demonstrators being arrested, police said.

    If this were a movie, I’d also say there is NO WAY a significant amount of people are gonna fall for this tan sprayed, combed over, blustering charlatan. But I have underestimated the power of a large media site (FOX “NEWS”) pumping propaganda 24/7. But–
    — Mangold (@mang0ld) March 21, 2020

    “Ford vs Ferrari” director James Mangold called for a full boycott of the Fox News appealing for all “fellow content makers” to cancel any appearances on the network and use their power to keep ads for their projects off the channel as well.

    “Frozen” star Josh Gad questioned the police’s credibility over the violent assault on the landmark building. “This is either a dereliction of duty by the Capitol Police or a complicit desire to not plan for the known threat of chaos today. Either way, this is inexcusable. If you can be prepared for imaginary ANTIFA protesters, you had no business not prepping for these actual terrorists,” Gad said.

    “The Office” star Rainn Wilson said the Capitol is “under attack by terrorists”.

    Legendary musician Stevie Wonder was among several Hollywood names who demanded Trump’s impeachment and said he was “heartbroken and astounded” with the turn of events. Calling the outgoing POTUS a “narcissistic and dangerous president”, Wonder said Trump is no longer able to serve as president because “he can’t accept defeat”.

    Scores of celebrities such as Dylan O’Brien, Chris Hayes, Dylan Minnette, and Halsey also called for his impeachment.

    Trump, who earlier encouraged his supporters to head to the Capitol, urged them to abide by the law and go back home after the violent clash. “This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home,” Trump said in a video message posted on Twitter.

    Director James Gunn said that Trump “had to wait until AFTER his followers had pushed past police and entered the Capitol building and there was a face off with guns, but, you know, okay”.

    Actor-comic Sacha Baron Cohen, a staunch critic of Facebook, urged Mark Zuckerberg and the heads of Twitter, YouTube and Google to ban Trump. “Is that finally enough for you to act?! It’s time to ban Donald Trump from your platforms once and for all!” he tweeted.

    Singer Selena Gomez also slammed social media platforms for “failing” the American people. “I hope you’re going to fix things going forward,” she added. “The President just said ‘we love you’ to the armed mob storming The Capitol, replacing the American flag with a makeshift Trump flag,” ‘Top Chef’ host Padma Lakshmi tweeted.

    The microblogging site later removed the video and some tweets in which Trump appeared to defend the actions of his supporters. In an unprecedented move, Twitter and Facebook have suspended Trump’s accounts after he continued to push conspiracy theories about the November 3 election.

    Twitter suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours and also blocked three of his tweets including a video of his address to his supporters. Facebook said it would be blocking the president’s account from posting for 24 hours due to two policy violations.

    The protesters dispersed following the enforcement of curfew in the national capital. Mayor Bowser announced the curfew to prevent the situation from escalating. Officials said the Capitol was secured, putting an end to nearly four-hour violent occupation by Trump supporters.

    Heavily armed police personnel were deployed to disperse the crowd.