Hugh Grant posts his infamous 1995 mug shot to shut down trolls
Hugh Grant’s trolls are going to need new ammo.
The British actor, 59, has been showing his support for various parliamentary candidates — and it has made him a target for online critics. However, Grant beat them at their game Wednesday when he dug up the mug shot from his 1995 arrest — for lewd conduct alongside prostitute Divine Brown — and wrote, “To my dear trolls. Hope this is helpful. Now you have more time to spend with mummy.”
The Four Weddings and a Funeral actor was infamously arrested in June 1995 when Los Angeles police officers nabbed him for receiving oral sex in a public place. The actor, who was dating Elizabeth Hurley at the time, pleaded no contest.
Brown, real name Estella Marie Thompson, also pleaded no contest. She had more than five minutes of fame discussing her arrest and Grant, whom she didn’t realize was famous when she got in his car, in the media.
It should really be no surprise that Grant dredged up his past for the post combatting his trolls — he never tried to hide it. His arrest coincided with the release of his first big studio film, Nine Months, and he promoted the film anyway. So, just days after the bust, he appeared on The Tonight Show with then-host Jay Leno memorably asking him, "What the hell were you thinking?" Grant made no excuses, replying, "I think you know in life what's a good thing to do and what's a bad thing, and I did a bad thing. And there you have it."
While Grant and Hurley ultimately ended their relationship — after 13 years together — five years later, they remain close friends and he is the godfather to her son, Damian, 17. Since 2011, the actor has had five children including three with now-wife Anna Eberstein.
Grant has been out pounding the pavement with a variety of candidates from different parties in hopes of preventing Britain’s Conservative party from winning the majority. On Wednesday, he was with Faiza Shaheen, the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green. At one point, protesters shouted at him and asked why he was supporting a “racist” party.
He’s also supporting Luciana Berger, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Finchley and Golders Green (formerly of the Labour party).
He was also with Chuka Umunna, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Cities of London and Westminster.
And he’s supporting independent candidate Dominic Grieve of Beaconsfield.
Apparently Grant’s “political fluidity” has led to criticism and trolls. And we can’t imagine that it’s helped that he called conservatives “bad people” who must “be stopped” in an interview.
Grant said this week that he’s “getting active politically” for the “first time in my life” because he thinks the country is on the edge of “abyss” if conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson gets the parliamentary majority and Brexit happens. He said he is doing “whatever modest thing I can to try and stop that.”
Grant is among many UK celebrities urging people to vote on Dec. 12.
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