POST OSCARS:DENZEL WASHINGTON TALKS HAVING REGULAR FRIENDS “I DON’T WANT MOVIE-STAR FRIENDS, I NEVER BEFRIENDED ANY WHITE ACTORS”

Actor Denzel Washington is telling it straight up! The award winning actor recently sat down for a interview where he targeted the points that some actors make a point of hob-nobbing with famous and high-profile folks in the industry and getting their picture in the tabloids as often as possible. Then there’s Denzel Washington.

“Actually, even within the industry, I don’t have any actor friends. My friends are old friends. One’s an ex-music guy, the other’s a restaurant owner and the other’s an ex-pro ballplayer.”

When asked why he didn’t have many friends among his colleagues, Washington snapped,

“Because I don’t make friends! Maybe I’m not a butt-kisser, maybe I’m not a schmoozer. I’m not about to go to a party to try to get a job. And then when you have children, the other friends become other parents. We’d coach baseball or basketball. My wife and I were raised right. I don’t want movie-star friends. And being African American, there were no big movie stars to hang out with anyway, not when I was starting out, they were just the third guy from the back! For whatever reason, I never befriended any white actors.”

One of Washington’s public relations representatives later offer a clarification on the Guardian story, “I sat in on this interview,” the rep said. “The part they failed to mention was after he said ‘never befriended any white actors’ he mentioned ‘except,’ and then listed Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, etc. They cut the rest of the thought out. The rest is fine though.”

As the interview went on, Washington’s seem to clarify that his attitude had less to do with his opinions of his fellow thespians and more with the current culture of celebrity in America. “I’m a working actor!” he declared. “What’s a celebrity anyway? Paris Hilton’s a celebrity. I’m just a working actor.”