Captain America actor insists 'American masculinity' is exceptional, despite being under attack
Actor Anthony Mackie, who plays the latest incarnation of Marvel’s Captain America in "Captain America: Brave New World," warned that American masculinity is both necessary and exceptional.
Mackie has made numerous headlines in recent months, having taken up the iconic role of Captain America from its popular predecessor, Chris Evans, in Marvel movies. On Tuesday, "The Pivot Podcast" released an extensive interview where the actor spoke about both his career and his personal life, including how he raises his sons.
"In the past 20 years, we've been living through the death of the American male," Mackie said. "They have literally killed masculinity in our homes and our communities, for one reason or another, but I raise my boys to be young men."
He explained that he believes becoming young men consists both of maturity and the ability to be a protector.
"My boys will always be respectful," he said, explaining how he taught his sons from a young age to have good manners and to look after their mother. "Every time I left for a job, I’d tell my 15-year-old, ‘You're the man of the house. You make sure these doors are locked every night, this alarm is on, you text me, or you call me every night before you go to bed, and you wake up.’"
"Because we're men," Mackie continued. "If I'm not there to protect, he got to be there to protect. Because you can have all the money in the world, if a motherf---er climb [sic] through the window, that money means nothing. You can have all the ‘celebrity’ in the world, [if a] motherf---er jump [sic] through the door, that ‘celebrity’ means nothing. So you got to have a little guard there."
Mackie argued the "idea of American masculinity is very different" from other countries.
"You feel it when you go to Europe," he said, noting how baffled he is when he meets European men. Mackie revealed that he often thinks "I could bust your ass, boy," joking with one "Pivot" co-host about Europeans wearing "tight-ass pants."
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Even in Africa, the veteran film star said, American masculinity feels decidedly different. He noted that when he was in Kenya, one onlooker told him, "You ain’t from here" and he responded, "I can tell I ain’t from here."
"It's just that. That American male masculinity is something I think is very important for boys, because now, our little boys are afraid to fail, so they don't try," Mackie lamented.
Mackie has made waves by speaking about masculinity before. During an appearance on "The Wendy Williams Show," he and the host spoke about their mutual support for "traditional" gender roles. He said he believes a man is someone who protects, does yard work, and who performs certain courtesies for a lady, while a wife, in turn, does things like "make Daddy a sandwich."
When a co-host on "The Pivot podcast" remarked that many young men don’t know how to approach women face-to-face anymore, Mackie argued that women themselves are partly to blame.
"Women have… they are so mean and so angry," Mackie said.
He then shared an anecdote about how he saw his nephew approach a woman, politely, saying, "Excuse me, how you doing?" She responded with a sound of disgust.
"How do you come back from that?" he asked as the co-hosts laughed. "He just walked over to me, I gave him his beer, I was like ‘There you go bro. That didn’t happen. That didn’t happen. Let’s start over.'"