AnnaLynne McCord Addresses Putin in Original Poem, Declares “I’m So Sorry That I Was Not Your Mother”
Nip/Tuck actress AnnaLynne McCord received attention and backlash Thursday on Twitter when she recited an original poem addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, appearing to suggest that she could have positively influenced him had she been his mother.
“I’m so sorry that I was not your mother,” said McCord, 34, in the video. “If I was your mother you would have been so loved. Held in the arms of joyous light. Never would this story’s plight, the world unfurled before our eyes. A pure demise. Of nation sitting peaceful under a night sky.”
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McCord’s poem landed on the day Putin ordered Russian military forces to initiate a full-scale invasion — via land, sea and air — of Ukraine. Multiple news outlets are citing the invasion as the largest ground war in Europe since the Second World War.
The poem continued: “If I was your mother, the world would have been warm. So much laughter and joy, nothing would harm. I can’t imagine the stain. The soul-stealing pain that the little boy, you must have seen and believed and the formulation of thought quickly taught that you lived in a cruel, unjust world. Is this why you now decide no one will get the best of you? Is this why you do not hide nor shy away from taking back the world? Was it because so early in life all that strife wracked your little body with fear?”
Further into the video, which was over two minutes, McCord expressed: “Oh, dear Mr. President Putin, if only I’d been your mother, perhaps the torture of unwrit youth would not within your heart imbue ascription to such fealty against that world that seemed so cruel.”
Among those who took to social media to comment on McCord’s poem was writer and actress Giulia Rozzi, who commented: “Dear actress AnnaLynne McCord, I am so sorry I was not your mother. If I was your mother I would’ve taught you not to blame women for the behavior of men.” Another user referenced McCord’s video and called it “self-involved and careless.”
Since posting early in the morning, the poem has been viewed 13.9 million times, retweeted close to 10,000 times and is continuing to receive attention.
McCord’s credits include 90210, The Night Shift, Secrets and Lies and Power Book III: Raising Kanan. Most recently, she appeared in the holiday movie Dancing Through the Snow.
On Friday the actress told Buzzfeed News that her reasoning behind writing the poem was because she could have seen herself acting in similar ways as Putin. “I know how I could easily have moved in the direction of becoming a dictator myself,” McCord said. “If certain circumstances of my life were different, were I a little less bent toward healing and more toward vindication, I could have been a darkly powerful person.”
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to McCord’s representative for comment.
View the whole poem — until it cuts off at the 2:20 mark — below.
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