Pedro Pascal Rips Trump Admin At Cannes: ‘F**k The People That Try To Make You Scared’

Pedro Pascal is speaking out against President Donald Trump’s administration.

The “Eddington” star fielded apt political questions Saturday at the Cannes International Film Festival in France, as the Ari Aster film heavily mocks the MAGA movement.

When a reporter asked Pascal if he was worried about reentering the United States, the actor didn’t mince words.

“Fear is the way that they win, for one,” replied Pascal in footage shared by Variety. “So keep telling the stories and keep expressing yourself and keep fighting to be who you are. And, I don’t know, fuck the people that try to make you scared, you know? And fight back.”

The “perfect way” to fight back is “telling stories,” he continued. “And don’t let them win.”

“Eddington” premiered Friday at Cannes to a standing ovation and tears of gratitude from Pascal’s co-star Joaquin Phoenix. Set during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, the satire explores America’s political divisions, zealotries and conspiracy theories.

Phoenix plays a small-town sheriff in the titular, fictional Eddington, New Mexico. The sheriff’s political differences with the mayor (Pascal) lead to a standoff that “sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor,” an official synopsis for the A24 film states.

Asked earlier in the press conference about Trump’s immigration policy, specifically, Pascal said “it’s far too intimidating” and “scary” of a question “for an actor participating in a movie like this” to answer, adding that he’s “not informed enough,” Variety reported.

That didn’t stop the beloved actor from voicing his beliefs and giving fellow immigrants grace. Pascal was born in Chile, and was forced to navigate serious immigration issues at an early age alongside his immigrant family.

“I want people to be safe and to be protected, and I want very much to live on the right side of history,” he said Saturday. “I’m an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the U.S. after asylum in Denmark.”

“If it weren’t for that, I don’t know what would have happened to use,” he continued, before lightening the mood with a half-joking expression of fear about retribution. “I stand by those protections. I’m too afraid of your question, I hardly remember what it was.”

Trump launched mass deportations shortly after assuming office in January, and has since floated the idea of “deporting” U.S. citizens. Earlier this month, senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller said the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus, a constitutional right that shields people from unlawful detention by guaranteeing their right to appear in front of a judge.