Late Scottish actor Sean Connery, best known for playing the role of James Bond in several films, famously made a controversial statement regarding slapping women which has resurfaced thanks to social media.
Connery, whose Bond character was a womanizing spy, sat down in 1987 for a television interview with Barbara Walters. During the sit-down, Walters referenced a previous interview that Connery had done in which he made a statement to the effect that it’s acceptable for men to slap women. Walters never actually notes which interview she’s making reference to, but Connery tells Walters that he still believes it’s OK.
When asked if he thinks it’s a good thing to do, Connery replies, “No, I don’t think it’s good. I don’t think it’s that bad. I think it depends entirely on the circumstances and if it merits it.”
Walters naturally followed up by asking, “What would merit it?” Connery then goes into a bizarre explanation that makes Walters’ thought-bubble nearly pop from overload.
Connery says:
”If you have tried everything else — women are pretty good at this — they can’t leave it alone. They want to have the last word and you give them the last word but they’re not happy with the last word. They want to say it again and get into a really provocative situation. Then, I think it’s absolutely right.”
Connery seems to be trying to make a case for slapping a woman if she gets “the last word,” but still isn’t satisfied.
The video ends with Walters telling Connery that he’s going to get a lot of mail. However, if you watch the full segment on YouTube, you can see that Connery responds with a laugh, “Might get some female.”
Walters follows up by asking Connery whether he has ever slapped his own wife, to which he says no, though he adds that she pushes him to the edge, or as he states, “She takes me to the wire.”
Earlier in the full interview, Connery had stated how both he and his wife play golf, but he doesn’t play with her because he doesn’t like to play golf with women, adding that playing golf with men is “more pleasurable.”
Another major film star during the same era as Connery’s who also had a reputation for womanizing is the late Omar Sharif. He once hit a woman on camera, as seen on a then-viral TMZ video which caused quite a stir at the time.
However, the most curious thing about it is that neither Sharif’s nor Connery’s image ended up suffering much at all. In fact, Connery would soon land the role of the father of Indiana Jones in the blockbuster film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Also only shown in the full interview is Barbara Walters calling Connery a “male chauvinist,” which causes a disagreement between the two, since Connery takes exception to the label, though he then later confusingly says he doesn’t mind if someone calls him a male chauvinist.
Thankfully, Connery’s retrograde sentiments don’t fly in our current era — even dudebro-idol Joe Rogan once mentioned this segment on his podcast, and criticized Connery’s mentality, while laughing at his statements.
