Gerard Butler cancels trip to Saudi Arabia after Jamal Khashoggi's killing: 'I know we made the right decision'
The killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi has unleashed a shockwave of anger around the world, which has amplified every day as new details emerge about his death and Saudi Arabia’s apparent role in it.
World leaders have struggled to formulate their responses to this international incident, but global superstar Gerard Butler — who is not a government leader, but plays one in the new film Hunter Killer — has been straightforward in his response.
“When I woke up in the morning before we were supposed to go to Saudi Arabia, we were informed of what was happening, and it just didn’t feel like a good time to be getting involved with that,” Butler told reporters during a press conference at the Pentagon last week explaining why he canceled a promotional trip. “It would’ve felt incredibly insensitive to go to Saudi Arabia.”
Butler elaborated on that decision when he stopped by Build Series in New York City on Monday. “It was a simple answer from our experience,” he said of the choice to cancel his appearance in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. “We were very excited to go to Saudi Arabia, because a lot of good people put in a lot of work for our movie in good faith.”
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The producing team behind Hunter Killer, which follows Butler’s character, a U.S. Navy submarine commander charged with rescuing the Russian president before World War III engulfs the globe, agreed, even though it would disappoint local exhibitors and audiences.
“We had a discussion, and knew we were going to have to upset some people, but it would be upsetting many more people if we were to go ahead — including ourselves,” Butler explained. “It just felt completely wrong to be associated with anything over there at this point. I know we made the right decision on that.”
Hunter Killer opens in theaters on Oct. 26.
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