James Cromwell, best known as playing Farmer Hoggett from Babe or Captain Dudley Smith from L.A. Confidential, is in trouble with the law again and it's all for the right reasons.
The actor, who turned 77 in January of this year, was arrested at SeaWorld in San Diego for protesting the treatment of orcas at the marine mammal park. SeaWorld has been under scrutiny since the release of the 2013 documentary, Blackfish, and protests are now commonplace outside SeaWorld locations across the US.
The protest, which saw Cromwell wearing a black t-shirt that read SEAWORLD SUCKS on it, was livestreamed on Facebook from PETA's account. In a statement released shortly after Cromwell's arrest, the actor explained his reasons for the protest. "Orcas deserve a full life in the ocean, not a life sentence of swimming endless circles until they drop dead from disease," read the statement. "My friends at PETA and I want SeaWorld to move these intelligent animals to seaside sanctuaries without delay."
Cromwell was sentenced to a week in jail at the beginning of this month, following a sit-in protest over a power plant in 2015 and refusing to pay fines arising from his then-arrest. Cromwell was then sent to prison on July 14th and released three days later on July 17th. Not only that, Cromwell was arrested in 2013, 2015 and 2016 for various protests and was one of the founding members of the Committee To Defend The Panthers, a group set up in the '60s to help organise the legal defence of the thirteen members of the Black Panther Revolutionary Party who were arrested on charges of conspiracy.
So, yeah, James Cromwell doesn't give a f*** about being arrested.
Via Variety