With the high-profile, starry revival of his American Buffalo opening Thursday on Broadway, playwright David Mamet seems to be doing his best — or worst — to make headlines. The latest: The conservative Mamet told Fox News’ Mark Levin on Sunday night that “teachers are inclined, particularly men because men are predators, to pedophilia.”
The offensive take comes just a few days after Mamet’s appearance on HBO’s Real Time iith Bill Maher, in which the playwright offered a muddled retraction of a claim made in his new book Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch. When asked by Maher about his statement in the book that the left attempted a coup during the last presidential election, Mamet conceded that he “misspoke.”
But his appearance on Fox News’ Life, Liberty & Levin — again, to promote the book, not the play — wasn’t so conciliatory.
Speaking on the hot-button topic of community and parental control in schools, Mamet said: “We have to take back control. If there’s no community control of the schools, what we have is kids being not only indoctrinated but groomed in a very real sense by people who are — whether they know it or not — sexual predators. Are they abusing the kids physically? No, I don’t think so, but they are abusing them mentally and using sex to do so. This has always been the problem with education, is that teachers are inclined, particularly men because men are predators, to pedophilia. And that’s why there were strict community strictures about it, thank God. And this started to break down when the schools said, ‘You know what? We have to teach the kids about sex. Why? Because what if they don’t do it at home?’”
A clip from the Fox News appearance, tweeted today by Media Matters’ Madeline Peltz, quickly gained traction, with many commenters pointing out the irony of Mamet’s comments since both the playwright and his mother have worked as teachers.
On Friday’s Real Time, Maher confronted Mamet on the author’s claim in his new book that the reft, rather than the right, attempted an election coup. Said Maher, “How [does] the premier person of letters in this country … believe in something 63 courts have laughed out of the court?”
Mamet responded, puzzlingly, “A lot of people thought Red Skelton was funny,” before saying, “I misspoke on Page 2, so I would ask everybody who reads the book to skip Page 2.”
The revival of Mamet’s American Buffalo, starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell and Darren Criss, is in previews at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre, with an official opening of Thursday, April 14. The 16-week limited engagement runs through Sunday, July 10.
Deadline has reached to a spokesperson for the American Buffalo revival for comment.
David Mamet on Fox News: “Teachers are inclined, particularly men because men are predators, to pedophilia” pic.twitter.com/azAlXPWRUc
— Madeline Peltz (@peltzmadeline) April 11, 2022
“I would ask everybody who reads the book, who I hope is everybody, to skip page 2.”
Watch #Recessional author David Mamet tell @BillMaher how he “got a little bit ahead” of himself when assigning blame for America’s attempted coup: pic.twitter.com/gjcU3RXXJg
— Real Time with Bill Maher (@RealTimers) April 9, 2022