Opinion
The Hollywood star Ricky Schroder of “NYPD Blue” fame is speaking out to warn others about the potential pitfalls of Hollywood.
Schroder Sounds Off
Schroder, a 53 year-old actor who got his start as a child star in the 1979 movie The Champ, recently launched the Reel American Heroes Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization that produces content that promotes patriotic and traditional values.
When asked by Fox News what advice he would give his younger self, Schroder replied, “Don’t lose sight of the Lord, because in Hollywood, it’s easy to lose sight of the Lord there.”
“You get tempted by so many things, and temptation can just kind of get you off track. And so, I would say if I could speak to my younger self, it’d be, ‘Read your Bible more,’” he continued. “There’s no real regrets. As I look back on my life, as far as professionally, I had the best opportunities I took when they came along. I tried to develop opportunities as best I could.”
Related: Kirk Cameron Defies Hollywood Left To Reveal How Christian Values Shaped America
Schroder ‘Never Fit In Hollywood’
Schroder went on to reveal why he never felt like he fit in Hollywood
“But I never fit in Hollywood,” he confessed. “It was never sort of a desire of mine, let’s say. I was put into The Champ when I was 7 years old and turned 8, making The Champ. And so it’s been an interesting path to to go down – when you didn’t make those choices originally.”
“Other people made choices for you and put you on a track,” he added. “But today I make my own choices. And so, that’s why I sort of decided to leave Hollywood, moved back to Colorado, and I still want to tell stories. But a different forum, a different platform.”
Schroder also said that he decided to start his non-profit after the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced its new diversity and inclusion guidelines for Oscars consideration in 2024. This initiative force film producers and directors to submit to the Academy a dossier that indicates the race, gender, sexual orientation and disability status of their film’s entire cast and crew members.
“They came up with some diversity, equity and inclusion guidelines that said you had to have certain story themes and characters, LGBTQ+ and minorities, inside your content to be eligible for the Oscar for Best Picture,” Schroder lamented. “And I was really offended by that.”
“I thought, ‘That’s not right.’ You know, [the 1998 war drama] Saving Private Ryan today wouldn’t be eligible for the Best Picture category because of these guidelines,” he explained. “And so it gave me the idea to start a foundation that we could build into sort of… hopefully a ‘Patriot PBS.’ It’s an aggregator for good kinds of stories with values and principles that uplift America instead of tear it down.”
Related: Kevin Sorbo Of ‘Hercules’ Fame Claims Hollywood ‘Blacklisted’ Him For Being ‘Christian, Conservative’
Schroder’s ‘NYPD Blue’ Memories
Schroder also talked about some fond memories about his time on “NYPD Blue, which he appeared on from 1998 until 2001.
“The writing that I got to say – David Milch, the writer for the show – and there were other writers, but he was the main creative force. Just getting to go to work with his dialogue and his words,” Schroder said. “And my costars were incredibly talented. It was like acting boot camp for me, ‘NYPD Blue.’ I was 28, I think, when I started it. And I learned a lot there.”
“It was a great memory. Great times,” he concluded.
It seems like unlike the vast majority of Hollywood, Schroder is a true patriot who actually has a good head on his shoulders. We can’t wait to see what films and television shows his non-profit puts out in the years to come!
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