Brian Cox calls woke millennials “awful”

Last Updated on August 4, 2023

When Logan Roy yells “F*ck off!” you get a good feeling he means it. And when his portrayer, Brian Cox, says that “woke culture is truly awful”, you know he’s not kidding around.

Speaking with Piers Morgan on his TalkTV show, Brian Cox went after millennials, explaining how their self-righteousness disgusts him. “I think [social media] points out too readily inadequacies. The whole woke culture is truly awful…and the shaming culture. I don’t know where it comes from. Who are the arbiters of this shaming? And it’s very hard to pin them down, and, it turns out, it’s usually a bunch of millennials. And who gave them the halos? I suppose in a way they’re probably saying, ‘Well you’ve all screwed it up so we may as well do something about it.’ But it’s from the wrong principle. It comes from the wrong place.”

While “woke culture” can cover a range of topics that sometimes seemingly come out of nowhere, Brian Cox zeroed in on the habit of digging up a dated issue from decades ago and the dire consequences it can bring. “It’s disgraceful. Absolutely disgraceful. Roald Dahl was a difficult man, but he wrote some amazing stuff…It comes from complete ignorance. It’s an ignorant state that creates this sort of, ‘That’s bad, that’s good.’” Earlier this year it was revealed that the works of children’s book author Roald Dahl underwent a language review, resulting in new editions that would no longer include such horrifically offensive words like “maniac” and trimming references to Augustus Gloop’s weight. And if you’d like more of Brian Cox’s fiery takes on, well, anything, check out his autobiography.

This week, Brian Cox received his third Emmy nomination for his work on HBO’s Succession, where he will face off against Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin, who moved to the lead category this year. Cox was nominated prior for a guest spot on Frasier, previously winning a statue for playing Hermann Göring in 2000’s Nuremberg.

What is your take on Brian Cox’s thoughts on wokeness and millennials? Does he have fair points or is he just cranky?