Dick Van Dyke, 98, reveals presidential endorsement in rare social media appearance

Dick Van Dyke surprised fans Monday with a rare social media appearance as he shared his support for the 2024 presidential race — just one day before Tuesday’s election.

The 98-year-old acting icon – who recently sparked concern after having to cancel his first appearance outside Los Angeles in months – addressed the camera in a stark black-and-white clip shared to his Instagram page.

The Mary Poppins star compared today’s race and political climate to that of 1964 by reading a speech he originally gave at an event with Martin Luther King Jr.

Van Dyke – who celebrates his 99th birthday on December 13 – was remarkably still full of vigor and passion as he recited the speech in a powerful voice.

Although neither Vice President Kamala Harris nor former President Donald Trump were mentioned by name in his speech, the stage and screen star made clear his support for Harris through her personal account, the Harris campaign’s account and the official account of the to tag vice president. president.

Although his speech did not mention either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump, Van Dyke made it clear that he supported Harris by tagging her Instagram accounts in his caption; Harris is pictured Monday in Rankin, Pennsylvania

“You may remember me singing and dancing and falling – a lot, actually,” Van Dyke playfully introduced himself while wearing a casual polo shirt and sporting his now standard snow-white beard.

‘Fifty years ago – May 31, 1964 – I stood on stage with Dr. Martin Luther King, who addressed about 60,000 people at the Coliseum in LA, and I was there to read a message written by Rod Serling,” he said. , referring to the creator and writer of Twilight Zone.

“I recently released it and I think it means as much today – if not more – than it did then, so if you don’t mind, I’d love to read it,” he continued.

Van Dyke put on reading glasses as he began reading the speech.

‘Hate is not the norm. Prejudices are not the norm. Suspicion, aversion, jealousy [and] scapegoat…. none of these are the transcendent facets of human personality,” he began.

‘They are diseases. They are the cancers of the soul. They are the contagious and contagious viruses that humanity has been producing for years,” he said as he read the words of Serling, who was known for his liberal politics, including his support for anti-war politicians and his commitment to combating racism. both in his personal life and in his allegorical scripts for The Twilight Zone and other television series.

“And because they have been there and because they are there, is it necessary that they should still be there?” Van Dijk asked. “I don’t think so.”

He added that as long as there is “one voice left to say ‘welcome’ to a stranger,” “one hand outstretched to say ‘come in and share,'” and “one mind left to think of a thought of warmth and friendship to think,’ ‘then there was still hope for the collective soul of humanity.

Van Dyke added — in Serling’s words — that the nation was still animated by an “essential decency,” “fundamental goodness” and “supreme dignity” that courses through its citizens.

Van Dyke read a speech originally written for him in 1964 by Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling

The speech described “hate” and “prejudice” as “cancer of the soul,” while adding that the nation was still animated by an “essential decency.”

Van Dyke said he gave the speech as an introduction to an appearance by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964; pictured in 1964

However, the speech also noted that Americans have repeatedly failed to live up to the nation’s highest ideals.

“There will be moments of violence and expressions of hatred and an ugly echo of intolerance, but these are the lingering remnants of a faded past, and not the harbinger of a better, cleaner future,” Van Dyke warned, echoing the language of many anti-Semites. -Trump numbers.

‘To those who tell us that the inequality of the human animal is a necessary evil, we must respond by simply saying that it is evil in the first place, but that it not necessary,” the Dick Van Dyke Show star said. “We prove it as we sit here tonight in 1964. We prove it by reaffirming our faith. We prove it by having confidence in our statements.’

Van Dyke concluded by rewriting a quote from abolitionist and U.S. Representative Horace Mann, who died two years before the start of the American Civil War.

“Be ashamed to die until you have won a victory for humanity,” he quoted. ‘I’d like to paraphrase that tonight. “Let us be ashamed to live without that victory.”

After wrapping up the decades-old speech, Van Dyke noted that “a lot has happened” to improve the United States since he first opened the King’s rally with that speech, but he added that much remained to be done done to create a stronger nation. .

“It’s not what Martin Luther King dreamed of, but it’s a start,” he said, ending on an optimistic note. “Thank you and God bless.”

Most of Van Dyke’s message was in his passionate video, but he added “VOTE!!!” in his caption, along with his tags for Harris and her campaign.

“It’s not what Martin Luther King dreamed of, but it’s a start,” he said, ending on an optimistic note.

Van Dyke will turn 99 in December. He is best known for his role opposite Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins (pictured) and for helming the eponymous Dick Van Dyke Show.

He joins a bevy of celebrities who have shared their support for Harris in recent days, including several stars who spoke out against an anti-Puerto Rican joke made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during Donald Trump’s recent rally at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.

After President Joe Biden subsequently called Trump’s supporters “trash” — which he later insisted was merely a reference to Hinchcliffe — the former president and his supporters seized the moment to try to turn the controversy around and slam Harris’ campaign attack by taking a photo. in which Trump posed in a garbage truck.

The strategy may have backfired, however, as Trump was widely mocked on social media for video footage showing him waving and struggling to open the truck door before finally getting in.

Ironically, this move may have done more damage for Trump. According to HuffPostsome Puerto Rican and Latin American voters interpreted his garbage truck photo op as a further attack on them, rather than seeing it as an ironic shot at Biden and Harris.