Retired WWE wrestler, and one of the most successful movie actors in the world, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson made his first-ever presidential endorsement today during a virtual seven-minute chat with Democrat Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris.
‘I’ve voted for Democrats in the past and as well as Republican,’ the 48-year-old ‘political independent and centrist’ – who boasts 306.4M social media followers – wrote.
‘In this critical election, I believe Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the best to lead our country, and…I proudly endorse them for the presidential office of our United States. Progress takes courage, humanity, empathy, strength, grit, kindness and respect. Being kind and respectful to one another will always matter.’
As a political independent & centrist, I’ve voted for both parties in the past. In this critical presidential election, I’m endorsing @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris.
Progress takes courage, humanity, empathy, strength, KINDNESS & RESPECT.
We must ALL VOTE: https://t.co/rZi1mxh8DC pic.twitter.com/auLbc8xDBv
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) September 27, 2020
Speaking to the pair, Dwayne said: ‘You guys are both obviously experienced to lead. You’ve done great things. Joe, you’ve had such an incredible career. You’ve led in my opinion, with great compassion, and heart, and drive, but also soul. You and I talked about that in the past and how important soul is.’
Johnson also praised the 55-year-old California Senator as being ‘smart and tough’ saying: ‘I’ve seen you in those hearings and in my opinion you are a certified badass.’
When the half-Black, half-Samoan action star asked them how they plan on earning the respect of the entire nation, the 77-year-old former Vice President was first to respond.
‘By doing what we say we’re going to do. By keeping our word. By leveling with the American people. By taking responsibility. When we fail, acknowledge it. We’re not going to be perfect, but take responsibility,’ Biden explained.
‘Say, “This is what I’m going to do, this is what I believe and tell the truth.” That sounds so basic, but the American people are strong, they’re tough, they can take anything if you level with them, and tell the truth, and one of the ways we’re going to do it is to demonstrate we mean what we say. Our administration, DJ, is going to look like America. It’s going to be representative of all of America.’
Harris expanded on the idea of not having trust unless you speak the truth.
‘You know that as a parent, we know that as parents, you have to speak truth. And as long as there is an understanding that it is being spoken not to confront, not to hurt, but to deal with things, the way they must be handled,’ Kamala continued.
‘That has to be part of the core of what we do as we go forward because to your point, we’re facing as a country so many challenges and people are grieving. I mean, people are grieving the loss of life, the loss of jobs, the loss of certainty, the loss of normalcy and to heal and get through this we’re gonna have to be honest about what healing will require.
‘That’s one of the things that Joe and I really do have in common, which is we’re motivated by healing, but we know to do that, we have to be honest about what it’s going to take.’
Indeed, Dwayne has two daughters – Jasmine Lia, 4; and Tiana Gia, 2 – with his second wife, singer Lauren Hashian.
Johnson and his family recently recovered from a bout with COVID-19.
The Jumanji: The Next Level actor is also father to 19-year-old daughter Simone – who’s following in his wrestling footsteps – from his 11-year marriage to his frequent executive producer, Dany Garcia.
Johnson joined a long list of A-list endorsements for Biden from celebrities like Eva Longoria, Stephen Curry, Kerry Washington, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Biden will face off against his opponent President Trump at the first official debate this Tuesday and Harris will debate Vice President Mike Pence on October 7.