Adam Scott On Innocence Of America: Discourse

by Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeedBuzzFeed StaffI’m an innately nosey and chronically online celebrity and pop culture journalist, with my specialist areas including deep-diving lyrics and calling out Terrible Men™.

It’s fair to say that one of the roles that 53-year-old Adam Scott is best known for is Ben Wyatt in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. He joined in 2010 as a guest star on the second season, before becoming a lead character for the remainder of the show, which ended in 2015.

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While Adam had definitely already made a name for himself in the acting world by this point — with roles in movies like Knocked Up and shows such as Party of Five and Boy Meets World — it was Parks and Rec that really put his name on the map, and he was nominated for two Critics’ Choice Awards for his performance as Ben.

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If you need reminding, Parks and Rec is a political satire mockumentary that follows Amy Poehler’s character, Leslie Knope, who is a mid-level bureaucrat in the local government of a small town in Indiana.

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The underlying tone of the show is incredibly wholesome and feel-good, and in a new interview with Variety, Adam reflected on the fact that it ended two years before Donald Trump first became president in 2017.

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The actor was asked if Parks and Rec could happen today, “given the different energy of our country,” and his answer has proven to be pretty divisive.

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“I think back on Parks and Rec and the hope and joy that it brings people, it’s so lovely to hear from people that it helped them through the pandemic or helps them through trying times now," Adam began.

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“And it is a dark time right now,” he went on. “I do feel like our country may have lost what was left of its innocence in 2015, when Donald Trump stepped up and stepped into politics. And it’s easy to forget just how much our country has changed in the last 10 or 11 years.”

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“But as far as whether it could kind of survive or how it would sit in the now if it started now: Certainly, it would be different,” Adam concluded. “But something like Abbott Elementary is able to maintain this really lovely tone, and it’s able to be hilarious and heartfelt and all of those things in a climate that isn’t always conducive to that. They’re able to protect themselves and make this great show. I think there’s always an audience for that.”

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And while Adam’s answer was undeniably well-thought out and pretty nuanced, some people have taken issue with one part in particular, and that is him saying that America “lost what was left of its innocence” when Trump entered politics.

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Responding to the star’s quotes on a Reddit forum, one popular comment asks: “What innocence, man?” To which somebody else replied: "The innocence of white Liberals believing that having a black president meant racism was over, I guess?”

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Another agreed: “Literally my first thought. ‘When was America great?’ as they say.” One more pointed out in response: “Its been great for a good while if you were a white man making a healthy income. For anyone else not so much, for all that you can cherry pick exceptions who'd swear otherwise because they can't fathom life experiences outside their own.”

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Somebody else said of the show: “it has weird obama era optimism that only existed for people who were already upper/mid middle class.”

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However, others leaped to Adam’s defense, with some admitting that they were part of the group of people who had a kind of naive hope for the future pre-Trump. One explained: “Naïveté would have been a better word choice. Maybe blissful ignorance. I can’t say I was any better, I was the poster child for obnoxiously saccharine, politically moderate millennial optimism circa 2014. It was a lie, but damn if it didn’t feel good to think that the world would magically and inevitably get better through incremental reforms and good vibes.”

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Another echoed: “I think he just means optimism. It was a relatively optimistic time. Most progressives believed Trump was too awful and insane to have any chance of winning until election night. There was so much naivety about what this country was capable of and how much worse things could possibly get.”

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While somebody else wrote: “I’m confused, was this not just him saying ‘America had a more naive understanding of politics back then.’”

What do you make of Adam’s comments? Let me know your thoughts down below!

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