Jon Bernthal on working with Tom Holland on ‘Spider-Man,”The Odyssey’
Jon Bernthal praises Tom Holland at the “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” Los Angeles premiere. The pair also star in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
“The Odyssey” actor Jon Bernthal is drawing a line in the sand in the debate over pit bulls.
During an appearance on “The Howard Stern Show” on Saturday, Aug. 1, the 49-year-old star opened up about how he’d turned his life around after being arrested in 2009 for knocking a man out with a punch. Bernthal said the incident made him feel “so disgusted” with himself and earned him three years of probation.
The situation, which he detailed in a 2018 Esquire feature, was instigated by a supposedly inebriated man who grabbed Bernthal’s pit bull, Boss, while they were on a walk, then followed them after the actor took the dog back. When host Howard Stern questioned why Bernthal’s dogs didn’t “attack” the man, “The Punisher” star explained, “My dogs are the greatest; they’re unbelievably well trained.”
Stern then asked if pit bulls’ reputations were a “myth,” to which Bernthal replied, “People have got to stop that.”
“It’s just racism. It’s just dog racism. To be afraid of a breed of dog is completely ridiculous. It’s like being afraid of somebody for their race or their sexual orientation. It’s completely ridiculous,” Bernthal said. He then alleged, “Look, if a pit bull bites you, it’s going to suck. But they’re no more likely to bite you than a Chihuahua or another breed.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Bernthal’s representatives for comment.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in its position statement on pit bulls, notes: “Today’s pit bull is a descendant of the original English bull-baiting dog – a dog that was bred to bite and hold bulls, bears and other large animals around the face and head. When baiting large animals was outlawed in the 1800s, people turned instead to fighting their dogs against each other.”
The nonprofit adds, “It doesn’t mean that they can’t be around other dogs or that they’re unpredictably aggressive.”
Advocating for the importance of evaluating “each dog, no matter its breed, as an individual,” the ASPCA statement continues: “It is likely that the vast majority of pit bull type dogs in our communities today are the result of random breeding – two dogs being mated without regard to the behavioral traits being passed on to their offspring. The result of random breeding is a population of dogs with a wide range of behavioral predispositions.”
The actor, who performed in the stage production of “Dog Day Afternoon” alongside “The Bear” costar Ebon Moss-Bachrach earlier this year, has often included his dogs in his work, even sharing selfies with them from set. He made headlines in 2019 by bringing his blue pit bull, Bam Bam, on stage at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, and the two also posed together in a photo shoot in the 2018 Esquire profile.