Arnold Schwarzenegger was detained at an airport for hours over an expensive piece of jewelry.
The former politician was detained for three hours by customs officials after landing at Munich Airport in Germany on January 17.
Celebrities being detained at the airport is nothing new–but it’s always a situation that makes headlines.
This time around, Schwarzenegger is the one catching some heat, but it’s not because he brought a gun on the plane or disturbed the peace.
As a matter of fact, the reason the actor was detained could happen to a lot of folks…if we had the kind of money Arnold does.
What really happened…
The former Governor of California was wearing a luxury watch that he didn’t declare upon entry.
According to reports from Bild, Schwarzenegger estimates his Audemars Piguet watch is worth 20,000 euros.
The action movie star flew from Los Angeles to attend a summit for the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative.
The Climate Initiative was in Kitzbühel, a wealthy Alpine ski town in his native Austria.
While at the airport, the 76-year-old was subject to a random search.
That’s when customs officers discovered the luxury watch in his luggage, prompting the detention and accompanying interrogation.
According to reports from CBS, he was never asked to fill out a declarations form.
Schwarzenegger went on to explain that the watch was going to be auctioned off to benefit his climate change charity.
“This is the problem that Germany is suffering from,” he told Bild. “You can no longer see the forest for the trees.”
Unfortunately for Arnold, the ultimate destination for the watch doesn’t matter to Germany’s customs agency or the letter of the law.
Even though he says it’s to be auctioned off, Schwarzenegger was still on the hook for $4,300 in taxes and a $5,400 fine.
The Terminator star was willing to charge the full amount to a credit card to just end the whole ordeal, but that wasn’t a possibility.
The law also stipulates that at least 50 percent of the amount has to be paid in cash.
Schwarzenegger had to be escorted to a bank so he could withdraw enough money to cover the penalties.
Even after covering his financial obligations, Schwarzenegger still might not be in the clear.
A customs service spokesperson told the German newspaper, “We have initiated criminal tax proceedings. The watch should have been registered because it is an import.”
Luckily, the actor didn’t cause any further issues while dealing with being detained.
“He cooperated at every step even though it was an incompetent shakedown, a total comedy of errors that would make a very funny cop movie,” a source said, according to NBC News.
Thomas Meister, a spokesman for Munich’s customs office, explained that Schwarzenegger was asked to provide personal, financial information and had the opportunity to consult a lawyer.
“That all takes a certain amount of time,” he said. “Once that’s done, he can leave the customs office.”
“The watch will likely still be auctioned tomorrow, and the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative will properly report it, as all of Arnold’s nonprofits do,” the source said on Wednesday.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is the latest star to come under fire for some anti-woke comments …
But he has made no apologies for it.
And has, in fact, pointed out we may be raising a generation of wimps …
“We won’t be getting comedies for much longer if people keep getting offended so easily, a sense of humor will soon be a thing of the past!” one fan agreed.
“Actors need to be placed in witness protection to fend off all the ‘woke’ gobs****s hanging around waiting to be offended by something.” added another.
“This cancel culture stuff is getting ridiculous! We won’t have any form of comedy in the world soon, as nobody will remember what it is!” offered a third.
Read on for the full story …
We’ve all heard of cancel culture.
Traditionally, the term “canceled” means to “dismiss something”, or to “reject an individual or an idea”, as per Dictionary.
But it’s a controversial topic.
Canceling someone has become the go-to tactic for disgruntled and offended internet-goers.
Whether it be rejecting them, ignoring them, publicly opposing their views or actions, or depriving them of time and attention.
Some people think it’s an inappropriate response to being offended.
We’ve all heard of this controversy…
Perhaps the most memorable example is the previously-beloved mastermind behind the Harry Potter franchise, J.K Rowling.
Who was savagely “canceled” after expressing her views on women and gender.
Many found them to be transphobic views.
She commented: “‘People who menstruate’. I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
And, almost instantly, the internet was alight with allegations of transphobia.
And even some calls for Rowling and the Harry Potter franchise to be canceled and boycotted entirely.
Which some viewed as taking things too far.
And she’s not the only person to have been canceled online.
Amid former President Trump’s controversial response to the BLM protests in 2020, his daughter stumbled intro controversy.
His daughter was hastily dropped by Wichita State University Tech in Kansas just hours after it had been revealed she would be giving a speech to its students.
Cringe!
Many have stood up in opposition to cancel culture.
An open letter to Harper’s Magazine in July last year was signed by more than 150 prominent authors and journalists.
Including J.K Rowling, Salman Rushdie, and Margaret Atwood.
Decrying what they see as a loss of open debate and tolerance as a result of cancel-culture.
Another to speak out against the ideology is the man behind Blackadder and Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson.
And has long advocated for free speech, as well as campaigning against legislation he believed would “stifle expression.”
“It’s important that we’re exposed to a wide spectrum of opinion,” Atkinson told the Radio Times.
“But what we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.”
But that doesn’t mean cancel culture is over.
Many past movies have also come under fire …
Now, on July 9, 1999, a movie burst into movie theaters the likes of which the American public had never before seen…
It was raunchy, obscene, hilarious – it featured a teenage boy doing unspeakably s*xual things to the most American of desserts, the apple pie.
It was called, quite appropriately, American Pie…
And it was a monster hit among its teenage audience.
The movie was quickly followed by another massive success …
2000’s Dude, Where’s My Car, starring Seann William Scott and Ashton Kutcher.
However, Gen Zers find these movies deeply problematic …
“Comedy has been ruined today. Only a handful of brave comedians left, like Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr and Joe Rogan. Satire comedy has been destroyed. I dare people today to watch Blazing Saddles They would probably have a heart attack!” one person wrote.
The teens had big problems with a whole host of movies, Vice reported last yea.
“This whole movie is completely ridiculous, especially how the only thing the male characters care about is having s*x. They’re willing to say and do whatever just to convince the girls to have s*x with them. I don’t know if that was realistic when the film came out, but I think men treat women with a lot more respect and equality now,” Taylor, sixteen, said of American Pie.
“The part where Jim and the other male characters film the foreign exchange student in his room is deeply problematic. The film doesn’t even question the morality of doing this, it makes it seem like a joke and that the dudes are all ‘legends’ for getting the plan to work. It’s a huge violation of privacy and definitely a s*xual offense for Jim to film her, let alone to then share that with his friends. There’s no way a teen film made now would allow it,” Hannah, seventeen, agreed.
“It’s bordering on incel attitudes the way the guys in this film think that they deserve s*x, and how they seem to think that’s all women are good for rather than wanting a loving relationship with somebody they respect. I think if you were a teenage boy watching this you’d basically feel entitled to behave however you wanted to towards women,” Olivia, eighteen, concluded.
And as for Dude, Where’s My Car?
“I seriously can’t imagine this movie being made today for so many reasons. I hated how practically every woman they meet in the film seems to just exist for the two main characters’ s*xual pleasure, from their girlfriends to the girls they meet at the party and the ones in the strip club. Obviously, the whole movie is completely ridiculous, but it still annoyed me because the main characters are s*xist losers and don’t deserve any female attention,” Taylor, sixteen, critiqued.
Hannah, seventeen, agreed, adding, “I didn’t make it to the end of this film and I genuinely don’t get how anyone could actually sit there and watch the whole thing let alone find any of it funny. There was so much not-ok stuff in it, especially the scene where they go to get a drive-thru Chinese takeaway and the lady taking the order keeps saying ‘and then’ to Ashton Kutcher’s character. I didn’t get if the joke was supposed to be that she doesn’t understand them or that she wants them to order more, but either way it’s not remotely funny and pretty racist.”
“I hated all of it but the worst part is when Jesse gets a lap-dance from a stripper who turns out to be a trans woman, or as they joke in the film ‘a gender-challenged male’, and then Jesse freaks out and starts wiping his tongue because he kissed her, and lifts up her skirt to see her bulge. It plays on stereotypes of trans people as s*x workers and thieves and legitimizes cis male transphobia. It’s so disgusting and I hope it wouldn’t have gotten made if it was written today.” Olivia, eighteen, finished.
Another movie of the past has been hit with critiques.
2008’s Tropic Thunder has come under fire for its use of blackface, in particular.
However, Ben Stiller has spoken out against the movie’s cancellation.
Taking to Instagram, a fan wrote: “Please stop apologizing for doing this movie. It was and still is funny AF. Even funnier now with cancel culture the way it is. It’s a MOVIE. Ya’ll can just get over it.
“I was DYING laughing when I first saw it back in the day and so was everyone else.”
But much to everyone’s surprise, Stiller actually responded!
Stiller wrote: “I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder. Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it.”
And Robert Downey Jr has also defended his use of blackface within the film.
Speaking on Joe Rogan, he said: “I thought ‘yeah I’ll do that, I’ll do that after Iron Man.”
“And then I started thinking ‘this is a terrible idea, wait a minute’.”
“Then I thought ‘hold on dude, get real here where is your heart’ and my heart is: A, I get to be black for a summer in my mind, so that’s in it for me.”
“The other thing is I get to hold up to nature the insane self-involved hypocrisy of artists and what they think they’re allowed to do on occasion, just my opinion.”
It was “impossible to not have it be an offensive nightmare of a movie.”
But Downey says his black friends told him the movie was “great.”
When asked about those who found the movie offensive, he said “I can’t disagree with them but I know where my heart was.”
Kevin Sorbo’s anti-woke comments have also come under fire.
Kevin Sorbo wrote an op-ed for Fox News that claims Hollywood is ‘anti-masculinity.’
He writes: “Everywhere we look, bold, confident, self-assured females upstage passive men who recede quietly into the background. Into the basement. Into the past.”
“Fathers, in particular, have become the butt of every woke Hollywood jab, the bumbling, useless idiots who contribute nothing to their families or communities, but sacrifice themselves as objects of ridicule,” he goes on.
Adding: “Society today seriously misunderstands masculinity. On the one hand, we love to normalize androgynous, Billy Porter-type men who sport skirts and poofy dresses. GQ’s 2019 best-dressed man, Timothée Chalamet, for example, often wears clothes that, well… let’s just say your grandfather wouldn’t have been caught dead dressed like Chalamet.”
However, the majority of Sorbo’s readers have found his piece disgusting and offensive.
“Those tough guy movie characters that swaggered hit women, or reveled in gratuitous violence were an obnoxious aspirational macho persona,” one pointed out.
Another added: “Ok, so kind, caring, intelligent men frighten y’all?! I know of a whole lot of men who have those gentler qualities because they are man enough to!”
“They can back their play, and are just as masculine as the next guy, they’ve simply grown out of the toxic part of our society’s version of masculinity,” offered a third.
And now, Arnold Schwarzenegger has offered his opinion…
He said on the Howard Stern Show: “You can only strengthen your character and become a really strong person inside if you have resistance, if you fail, if you get up again and if you work hard.”
Adding “Anyone that tries to baby themselves and pamper themselves… it’s over. You’re never going to get there.”
Predicting that the nation will be “creating a generation of wimps and weak people.”
“Let’s go and teach kids to be tough… go out and do sports… to struggle… and go through this kind of painful moments sometimes.”
Take a look at the interview clip here.