Listeners of Radio 4’s flagship Today programme have reacted to Angelina Jolie’s guest editing stint where she hinted at a move into politics.
The Hollywood star, who played Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider series, joked that she has no skeletons left in her closet, but added that she wasn’t sure whether she was ‘fit for a role in politics’.
Speaking to presenter Justin Webb, who questioned whether the star would be moving into politics she said: ‘I always say I’ll go where I’m needed. I don’t know if I’m fit for politics with … but then I’ve also joked that I don’t know if I have a skeleton left in my closet.’
Jolie is currently working with UN aid agency UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and said that this has helped her work directly with people in need. She said: ‘I’m also able to work with governments … so I sit in a very interesting place of being able to get a lot done, without a title and without it being about myself or my policies. So for now I’ll sit quiet.’
The Hollywood star and UN special envoy has also spoken of the need for reliable media sources to combat fake news.
She will be working with the BBC World Service as a producer for a series of educational children’s shows, seeking to improve media literacy by partnering with the new programme Our World.
Jolie said: ‘There has never been a time when it was more important to introduce the next generation to objective, impartial news and factual explanation of the events and issues shaping our world.’
Many social media users reacted positively to Jolie taking the reins of the Today show from 6-9am, calling the discussion ‘interesting’, while others felt she was misplaced to discuss certain issues due to her celebrity status as she discussed topics such as US politics, social media, sexual violence and the global refugee crisis.
One Twitter user Hitesh Patel, tweeted that it had been ‘interesting listening to Angelina Jolie’ on the programme.
He said: ‘Her world view is informed by visiting other countries, witnessing the lives of others. Important to remember in these times that the world is small and a lot of places aren’t that far away. She’s also a fan of Joe Strummer.’
This is while Nicole Bourcier said: ‘Just heard on the radio that Angelina Jolie may get into politics. If Lara Croft can’t sort the world out who can!’
Another user tweeted: ‘Great programme today edited by Angelina Jolie. A real discussion of important issues. Painful listening at times but so educational. Congrats #r4today.
However others criticised the show and said hinted that the episode was a ‘cliche’. Tony Winton wrote: ‘.@BBCr4today #r4todayat least we’re getting every righton cliche in the book. @angelinajolie has learned ‘everything’ from her children. Please enough already.’
Jolie is currently working with UN aid agency UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and said that this has helped her work directly with people in need. She said: ‘I’m also able to work with governments … so I sit in a very interesting place of being able to get a lot done, without a title and without it being about myself or my policies. So for now I’ll sit quiet.’
The Hollywood star and UN special envoy has also spoken of the need for reliable media sources to combat fake news.
She will be working with the BBC World Service as a producer for a series of educational children’s shows, seeking to improve media literacy by partnering with the new programme Our World.
Jolie said: ‘There has never been a time when it was more important to introduce the next generation to objective, impartial news and factual explanation of the events and issues shaping our world.’
Many social media users reacted positively to Jolie taking the reins of the Today show from 6-9am, calling the discussion ‘interesting’, while others felt she was misplaced to discuss certain issues due to her celebrity status as she discussed topics such as US politics, social media, sexual violence and the global refugee crisis.
One Twitter user Hitesh Patel, tweeted that it had been ‘interesting listening to Angelina Jolie’ on the programme.
He said: ‘Her world view is informed by visiting other countries, witnessing the lives of others. Important to remember in these times that the world is small and a lot of places aren’t that far away. She’s also a fan of Joe Strummer.’
This is while Nicole Bourcier said: ‘Just heard on the radio that Angelina Jolie may get into politics. If Lara Croft can’t sort the world out who can!’
Another user tweeted: ‘Great programme today edited by Angelina Jolie. A real discussion of important issues. Painful listening at times but so educational. Congrats #r4today.
However others criticised the show and said hinted that the episode was a ‘cliche’. Tony Winton wrote: ‘.@BBCr4today #r4todayat least we’re getting every righton cliche in the book. @angelinajolie has learned ‘everything’ from her children. Please enough already.’
Angelina Jolie (left) and Justin Webb (right) chat in the Radio 4 studio
Christodgers said that most Hollywood celebrities are ‘tedious bores’
This is while Barry Collins said that the programme had been an ‘extended advert for Jolie’.
Another user ‘@christodgers’ said: ‘Most of these celebrities are tedious bores. The sheer arrogance of these people to think that the real world beyond Hollywood actually cares about their views.’
During the show she told presenter Justin Webb that she can ‘take a lot on the chin’ and when asked if she was moving in the direction of politics she hinted that she would always ‘go where I’m needed’.
‘Kris’ said that it would be great if Jolie edited the programme every day
‘If you asked me 20 years ago I would’ve laughed. I really don’t know.
‘I always say I’ll go where I’m needed. I don’t know if I’m fit for politics with … but then I’ve also joked that I don’t know if I have a skeleton left in my closet.
‘So I’m pretty open and out there,’ the actress, who had an acrimonious split with Brad Pitt, said.
‘I can take a lot on the chin so that’s good. But I honestly will do whatever I think can really make change.’
The 43-year-old Oscar winner and special envoy for UN refugee agency the UNHCR, added: ‘Right now I am able to work with a UN agency … to do a lot of work directly with the people in need.
‘I’m also able to work with governments … so I sit in a very interesting place of being able to get a lot done, without a title and without it being about myself or my policies. So for now I’ll sit quiet.’
The US actress laughed as Webb suggested she could be on the list of 30 to 40 Democrats running for the party’s presidential nomination.
Jolie admitted being wild and a ‘bit of a young punk’ in her youth but said: ‘I don’t feel I’ve changed much at all’.
Speaking about her children, three from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Vietnam, and three biological offspring she said: ‘They are from different backgrounds… They celebrate the difference.’
She told the show: ‘Shiloh, for example, is the one that’s learning Mad’s (Maddox’s) country’s language, and Vivienne wants to live in Zahara’s country.
‘So just because they’re from a place doesn’t mean that that’s everything that defines them.’
Jolie added: ‘When my daughters were little, Zee (Zahara) and Shi (Shiloh), we got them each a baby doll.
‘I got Zizi a little black doll and I got Shi a little white doll, and they switched dolls.
‘I had that immediate reaction of one of them not liking the way they are and wanting the other colour or wanting the other… then I realised that’s just who they see every day.
‘They see the other, so to them family wasn’t the one that looked like them, it was the other…’
Speaking of the work she has done to help refugees and people less fortunate Jolie said that meeting these families had changed her perspective on a lot of things.
‘When I went out and started to meet refugee families I changed my view of so many things in the world I met these extraordinary survivors people that have comes through the most extraordinary odds and were protecting each other and the humanity that rises within these communities is like something you have never seen before because you don’t on a daily basis meet people who are so bare, s connected to just being able to find basic needs and survive and how full of care and love they are.
‘It’s really very moving. One of the things that I would encourage people to do is look at the movements of people as a barometer to understand what is happening in our world, not the less than 1% that is trying to cross our border of a developed country that is not the focus it should be what is happening to these people, why is this happening, how do we have that many people uprooted and what are the causes.’
Questioned on whether or not Jolie is aware that she is an extremely wealthy woman commenting on issues that she has never been a direct part of, she said it was something she was ‘well aware of’ and that governments need to support border countries which are carrying the burden for others.
‘We have to support them or we risk them becoming unstable, this should not be seen as a headache for people, we need our leaders to be thinking about balancing our world, we have to bring the numbers down.
‘Everyone that is concerned and doesn’t want someone in their neighbourhood and doesn’t want someone coming across their border should be wondering why we are not doing enough to stabilise countries and return people. The absolute majority of refugees would rather be home.’
They then moved on to discussing how people could be made to feel uncomfortable with cultural norms and Jolie said she doesn’t think there should ever be a cultural norm accepted that abuses women.
‘That’s not acceptable we are talking about basic human rights, we aren’t talking about our opinions on whether or not somebody feels they have the right to marry a child and possibly impregnate her young and put her life in harm’s way against her will, it is not something that we can sit back and think of as somebody else’s business.’
Webber then highlighted the widespread abuse of children by forces in Afghanistan and said that some foreign soldiers believe they should not meddle in local matters. Jolie, who has spent a lot of time in Afghanistan said it’s all about educating people to behave better.
‘I love Afghanistan and I love Afghan people and I’ve spent a great deal of time there and have made many friends, I do not want them to become like us, it’s not about being anything like us its about helping those there that are feeling oppressed and harmed to know their rights and helping to educate those who are abusing those rights.
‘Do the people that are abusing, do they think because there has been no accountability that in fact there is nothing wrong with what they are doing? But maybe the fellow officers can be very very clear and that’s why NATO are taking such a strong stand on these issues is important.’
Webber was keen to point out that the UK Foreign Officer had played a part in reducing the team that was involved in the initiative and to that Jolie said it was important to remember that the country had gone through different foreign secretaries in that time period and that there was now a new one in place.
‘To the British people and the British government, I am so grateful as an American that the British government has taken such a strong stand and I think British people should be so proud because it is worthwhile cause it has made a difference in the field.
‘I have met victims who finally got reparations when they didn’t have them before. It is growing and growing and growing the reason why NATO I believe is getting involved in a stronger way, and that’s with the leadership of the British government.
‘If anything I don’t think the question should be what the British government is doing it should be what America isn’t doing on this issue, when someone American is the co-founder.’
Webber questioned whether or not Jolie thought other nations were lacking in their efforts and had not ‘stepped up to the plate’ the way the British had.
‘Not in the way that the British have, but many are and I want to be clear. We have many many countries who have signed on, over 150 countries has signed on to do this and let me be clear about one thing about this, here is one specific example of something that was changed.
‘In the past when countries would sit together and they could decide their peace agreement and say the war is over we are going to have a peace agreement, they were able to take sexual violence against women off the table.
‘They were allowed to just remove it and not have to talk about it as part of their peace agreement and now with PSVI (The Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative) if you are a signatory you are not allowed to do that, you must keep it on the table.’
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and the Nobel Peace Prize winner and Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege were among those to feature in Jolie’s programme.
Previous guest editors over the years have included Prince Harry, Sir Lenny Henry and Sir Richard Branson.
Veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby, who stepped down as the host of Question Time after 25 years, was the first of this year’s guest editors.
