On Friday, the UK tabloid The Daily Star published an interview with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson that ran with the headline “EXCLUSIVE: The Rock slams snowflakes as ‘looking for reasons to be offended’”.
As any mention of the word ‘snowflake’ seems to do, it triggered a wave of responses, both positive and negative. Many found the interview odd, since The Rock is known for being incredibly positive 100% of the time, and insulting a whole group or generation of people doesn’t really seem like his style.
Later on Friday, The Rock took to Instagram to “set the record straight”.
The caption reads:
“Settin’ the record straight. The interview never happened. Never said those words. 100% false. If I ever had an issue with someone, a group, community or a generation — I’d seek them out, create dialogue and do my best to understand them. Criticizing ain’t my style. I don’t cast stones and we all get to be who we are.”
In the video, Johnson says:
“I can’t believe I have to do this again and set the record straight on something, but I’m happy to do it.
Earlier today online, an interview dropped with me – apparently it was with me – where I was insulting and criticising millennials.
The interview never took place. Never happened. Never said any of those words. Completely untrue. 100% fabricated. I was quite baffled when I woke up this morning.
You know, I’ve gained such a great trust and equity with all you guys all around the world over the years, and you know it’s not a real DJ interview if I’m ever insulting a group, a generation, or anyone, because that’s not me, that’s not who I am, and that’s not what we do.
So to the millennials, the interview never happened. To the plurals, the baby boomers, the snowflake generation, the tequila generation (that’s a generation I just started, that’s a good one, you’ll wanna join it), I always encourage empathy, I encourage growth, but most importantly I encourage everyone to be exactly who they want to be.”
That sounds like the Dwayne Johnson we all know and love.
Buzzfeed’s report says that they’ve reached out to the Daily Star reporter who wrote the interview, so it remains to be seen whether the publication will respond to The Rock’s video.
In the meantime, here’s a video of The Rock dressed as Pikachu.
