In these extremely heated and divisive political times, many believe there is no leeway to justify fraternizing with the enemy. Many also believe that all members of the Hollywood elite staunchly oppose Donald Trump and his policies. These two widespread beliefs could explain why Vince Vaughn is currently under attack for shaking hands with President Trump at the College Football National Championship game in New Orleans. 

The Wedding Crashers actor was seated near POTUS in a box at the game on Monday night. A 30-second clip surfaced of them amicably chatting and eventually shaking hands. The caption for the video could make sense of why Twitter erupted upon seeing this encounter: “I’m very sorry to have to share this video with you. All of it, every part of it.” The caption assumed that viewers would never expect a beloved comedian to be a Trump supporter, hence, it anticipated backlash or cancellation. 

However, there was a faction of people who were not surprised by this clip and pointed out that Vaughn has openly been a Republican for years. of Vaughn expressing libertarian views in the past are now being rehashed in an attempt to contextualize this new viral story. In a 2015 interview with British GQ, Vaughn said “banning guns is like banning forks in an attempt to stop making people fat.” The person who posted the initial tweet said that he started receiving “actual death threats” once the video started circulating. 

Read reactions to #HandshakeGate below.