Chris Pratt, formerly known as "the worst Chris." (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt has been trending on Twitter for the past few days, after TV writer Amy Berg tweeted this:
It was nothing more than a lighthearted joke, but the “poll” results sparked a meme - out of the four famous Chrises, Pratt has become known as “the worst Chris,” which snowballed into a soft cancellation.
The backlash inspired several of Pratt’s MCU co-stars to speak out in his defense, which prompted further criticism, considering that none of them (with the exception of Don Cheadle) spoke out against Brie Larson’s backlash, which was significantly more spiteful.
Why is Pratt suddenly so unpopular?
Pratt enjoyed a long period of popularity, after appearing in Parks and Recreation and Guardians of the Galaxy, despite his obnoxious onscreen persona. But a backlash began brewing after Ellen Page called out Pratt for supporting a religious organization (Hillsong Church) that reportedly discriminates against the LGBT community.
Faith-based bigotry isn’t exactly uncommon, but to be fair to Pratt, the man has never publicly voiced a hateful opinion, and claims that his church is an accepting environment that doesn’t discriminate. At least ... not against him.
A 2015 post by Hillsong's global senior pastor, Brian Houston, clarifies the Church's position. In said post, Houston states that the church "welcomes ALL people" but does not "affirm all lifestyles," including the "gay lifestyle."
So, it sounds as though they’re anti-LGBT.
Many members of the public have chosen to interpret Pratt’s faith as a worldview intertwined with Trumpism, which, again, Pratt has never publicly voiced support for. But one can easily imagine a potential connection, and that assumption, combined with Pratt following some outspoken conservatives on Twitter, has led to the belief that Pratt is secretly a Trump supporter.
The fact that Pratt didn’t attend a recent virtual fundraiser for Joe Biden, attended by his fellow Avengers stars, reinforced this assumption. But Pratt wasn’t the only missing Avenger - both Robert Downey Jr. and Brie Larson were also absent, and no one seemed to care.
To clarify, all of this is complete speculation; it seems as though Pratt belongs to a socially regressive religious group, but has never voiced support for faith-based discrimination, or for Donald Trump.
Is that it?
On top of that, Pratt has been demonized for, ummm … giving away his cat.
After becoming a father, Pratt reckoned that keeping his elderly, incontinent cat in the same house as a baby wasn’t a good idea, and gave the cat away to a stranger he found through Twitter.
Seems fair enough to me, but terminally online animal-lovers can be a pretty aggressive group, and have never forgiven Pratt for his transgression.
So, that’s it. That’s why Chris Pratt is cancelled.
Does any of this matter?
Nope. Not even a little bit - it’s just internet gossip. No one is going to skip the next Guardians of the Galaxy because Pratt is a suspected Trump supporter. He is simply, “the worst Chris.”
But to be fair, compared to Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth, I think most Chrises might fall a bit short.
