It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Dean Cain attacking cancel culture.The Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman star stopped by Fox News to respond to a recent op-ed in Time titled "We're Re-examining How We Portray Cops Onscreen. Now It's Time to Talk About Superheroes." The article examines how superhero movies handle the theme of justice and the lack of representation in the industry.Cain, who serves as a reserve police officer for the St. Anthony Police Department in St. Anthony, Idaho, began the interview with Ainsley Earhardt by denouncing those who are criticizing the police. "This is insane to me. These people will scream anti-police rhetoric all day long, but when their life is threatened and they need a hero, they will dial 911 and a police officer will show up," he said. "Police officers are heroes. Yes, there have been some bad apples and bad situations, but 99.9 percent of all police officers are fantastic. They are there to serve and protect and they do a fantastic job."
Cain then moved on to discuss cancel culture, comparing it to an "early version of George Orwell's 1984." He addressed the Time article, denying that America has ever tolerated "law enforcement acting with impunity," as the article claims, and that calls to defund the police have gone mainstream. He then dismissed the notion that "Hollywood heroizes cops," citing films and TV shows like Training Day, The Departed, The Wire, Blackkklansman, Ranpart and Rambo. "I promise you, as Superman, I wouldn't today be allowed to say 'truth, justice, and the American way,'" he concluded.
Cain's comments come as Hollywood continues to re-examine how it portrays police officers on the big and small screens. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, a workplace police comedy, scrapped its entire plan for its upcoming Season 8, with star Terry Crews saying that the show will "start over." Paramount Network also canceled the long-running reality TV series Cops.Â
Many series are also re-evaluating how they portray race on television. The Office, Community, 30 Rock, The Golden Girls and Scrubs all removed segments or episodes featuring blackface. The animated comedies Big Mouth and Central Park are also in the process of recasting biracial roles that were, until recently, voiced by white actors.
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman starred Cain as the titular hero. The show ran for four seasons between 1993 and 1997 on ABC.