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Actor Woody Harrelson said of U.S. President Donald Trump: “We have a guy running this country who has unearthed a lot of bigotry and a lot of racism, and it seems to be more virulent than ever. So, yeah, it’s strange how we just, it seems like we’re going backward. And yeah, I wish that there were a way to, I wish there were a way to get rid of that son of a b**** and get in a great president, you know, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen. And I don’t know how much he’s going to continue to foment hatred.”
The Associated Press recorded the interview on Oct. 25, 2017, during a film premiere for “LBJ,” a biopic about former President Lyndon B. Johnson. Users shared the video in February 2026 in posts not featuring the date of the interview, leading commenters and viewers to wrongly believe Harrelson made the remarks recently.
In February 2026, social media users virally shared a video showing actor Woody Harrelson allegedly making negative comments about U.S. President Donald Trump. In the clip, Harrelson railed against Trump, including saying, “I wish there were a way to get rid of that son of a b**** and get in a great president.”
For example, on Feb. 17, progressive political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen posted (archived) quotes from Harrelson’s interview on Facebook without sharing the video, labeling the “Cheers” and “True Detective” actor’s comments as “breaking” news. A manager of the similarly progressive NowThis Impact and Occupy Democrats organizations also shared the remarks. NowThis Impact posted the video (archived), while Occupy Democrats shared a quote meme (archived) with a text caption beginning with the words, “BREAKING: Woody Harrelson just said what millions of Americans have been thinking — and he didn’t hold back.” The three popular posts did not display the recording date of the Harrelson interview.
Other users shared the video, or quotes from the clip, on Facebook (archived) and X (archived). Some of those users also labeled Harrelson’s comments on Trump as “breaking” or “recent.” The vast majority of users submitting comments under the posts showed they believed Harrelson very recently made the remarks.
In short, Harrelson truly said these words — in 2017, at the beginning of Trump’s first term.
The Associated Press’ YouTube channel hosted the video with a description displaying the recording date and location as Oct. 25, 2017, at a film premiere for “LBJ,” a biopic about former President Lyndon B. Johnson starring Harrelson in the title role.
We traced the possible source of the old video’s resurgence in 2026 to an X post (archived) from Feb. 16 with well over 5 million views. That post also did not feature a recording date or any other context.
Snopes contacted a Harrelson representative to ask if he still felt the same way about Trump in 2026 as he did in 2017. We also emailed Cohen, as well as contacts for NowThis and Occupy Democrats, to ask if they wished to comment about the posting the remarks without a date. We will update this article if we receive further details.
Harrelson’s full comments and video
On Oct. 25, 2017, The Associated Press published the Harrelson interview video on YouTube with the title, “Harrelson: ‘I wish there was a way to get rid of Trump.’”
In the clip, Harrelson said the following:
We have a guy running this country who has unearthed a lot of bigotry and a lot of racism, and it seems to be more virulent than ever. So, yeah, it’s strange how we just, it seems like we’re going backward. And yeah, I wish that there were a way to, I wish there were a way to get rid of that son of a b**** and get in a great president, you know, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen. And I don’t know how much he’s going to continue to foment hatred.
Harrelson’s ‘brutal’ dinner with Trump
In August 2019, Esquire published insight about Harrelson attending what he called a “brutal dinner” with Trump in 2002. Harrelson said Trump spoke much more, by far, than anyone else at the table, adding: “It got so bad I had to go outside and burn one before returning to the monologue monopoly. Listen, I came up through Hollywood, so I’ve seen narcissists. This guy was beyond. It blew my mind.”
Harrelson also recounted attending Hanover College in Indiana with former Vice President Mike Pence, who served during Trump’s first term. Harrelson said: “As a freshman, I gave a sermon to a youth group, and Mike was the guy running the show. He was a junior, I think. … He struck me as a nice guy, very sincere. I don’t know how well we’d get along now, but we got along okay then.”
For further reading, we previously reported about a photo allegedly showing Harrelson wearing a cap endorsing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his 2024 presidential campaign.
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