Los Angeles, Nov 26 (IANS): Canadian actor Seth Rogen has come under fire after seemingly normalising crimes in big city.
The actor-writer came under fire after he dismissed someone's complaint about having been robbed in Los Angeles while defending the city, reports aceshowbiz.com.
On Wednesday, November 24, YouTube personality Casey Neistat tweeted: "so our cars got robbed this morning because Los Angeles is a crime riddled 3rd world s**thole of a city."
He then expressed gratitude towards the L.A. Police Department for arresting the criminal and retrieving all the stolen belongings, "but tremendous appreciation to the hardworking officers at the @LAPDWestLA who not only arrested the motherfucker but they got all of our stolen goods back"
Replying to the tweet, Rogen wrote: "Dude I've lived here for over 20 years. You're nuts haha." He also disagreed with the notion that L.A. "is a crime riddled 3rd world s**thole of a city," declaring, "It's lovely here. Don't leave anything valuable in it. It's called living in a big city."
Neistat argued: "i can still be mad tho right? feel so violated." Seth then responded, "You can be mad but I guess I don't personally view my car as an extension of myself and I've never really felt violated any of the 15 or so times my car was broken in to. Once a guy accidentally left a cool knife in my car so if it keeps happening you might get a little treat."
The 39-year-old then reiterated his earlier statement as saying: "Also it sucks your s**t was stolen but LA is not some s**thole city. As far as big cities go it has a lot going for it."
After seeing the conversation, people quickly took side, with many accusing Rogen of being privileged.
"I, too, am unbothered when one of many cars gets broken into. I just ask my assistant to get it all cleaned up and repaired. What's the big deal?" Tablet Magazine's Noam Blum sarcastically said. He added, "Viewing crime as some quaint reality of urban living akin to deer eating your vegetable garden is some bulls**t Hollywood-goggles romanticization of something that has no redeeming value and doesn't require some loss of humanity to prevent."
"You know, people talk about how this or that statement embodies 'privilege,' and 95% of the time it's total bulls**t, but this... yeah," political commentator Cathy Young tweeted. Daily Caller reporter Dylan Housman wrote, "Multi-millionaire celebrity explains to you why having your car broken into isn't a big deal and you should just get over it."
"Why is it ok? It may not be a huge deal to someone with [tremendous] wealth, but it certainly is for someone who's struggling. Might be the difference between making it & not. And regardless, the idea that it's just ok...cost of living...is ...am unhealthy one," entertainment journalist Katherine Brodsky commented.
Another user wrote: "Lol says the guy who lives in a several million dollar mansion far from the tent city homeless drug users. Having a lot going for it is not accurate as more has been taken from it during this decline." Someone else tweeted, "How about taking your privilege and doing something about that?"
A few, meanwhile, agreed with the actor that the car burglary didn't justify someone from giving the city such nickname.
After catching the heat, Rogen responded again on Twitter.
He wrote: "A lot of people come at me and talk s**t on Twitter hoping I'll engage with them publicly and give them attention, but instead I DM them and tell them to go f**k themselves privately. It's a lot more fun."