How Carl Reiner Showed Support for Black Lives Matter Days Before His Death
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Carl Reiner was showing his solidarity for the Black Lives Matter not long before his death. Reiner died on Monday surrounded by family in his Beverly Hills home, but as recently as Sunday the comedian was showing his support for a cause he cared about.
In pics posted to Twitter by Reiner's manager, George Shapiro, the Hollywood legend and his longtime best friend, Mel Brooks, wore matching Black Lives Matter T-shirts.
In one photo, Reiner and Brooks are lying in bed with Reiner's daughter, Annie, who is also wearing a BLM shirt, while flashing big smiles. Another pic shows the group wearing the shirts while enjoying dinner in honor of Brooks' 94th birthday on Sunday.
In a 2016 interview with ET, Reiner expressed how important it was that the Dick Van Dyke Show cast Black people on the sitcom.
"We were always looking to get African Americans into the show because it was such a white neighborhood and I was very aware of those social problems that existed in our country," he said at the time. "Once, we had Godfrey Cambridge, a black man, playing a FBI agent coming into the house, using the house as a set-up point and I remember them calling and saying, 'Are there FBI agents that are Black?' And I said, 'There are now.'"
Reiner also recalled a time when he was questioned about having a minority couple on the show. "They called and said, 'Are you sure about this? Having this black couple come in at the end?' And I said, 'Absolutely.' ...They were questioning it, that I should change it to somebody else. I said, 'I know what's in my heart.' I said, 'What's in my heart is honest.'"
Prior to his death, Reiner often used his platform to draw attention to political issues, including immigration, voter registration and health care.
In a 2018 video, Reiner said his "personal goal" was to "stick around until 2020, and vote to make sure we have a decent, moral, law-abiding citizen in Washington who will make us all proud again to live in America."
In fact, some of Reiner's final tweets were about President Donald Trump, who he called "a Russian-installed puppet president" and "a bankrupted and corrupt businessman who had no qualifications to be the leader of any country in the free world."
Check out more of ET's exclusive interview with the Hollywood legend where he reminisces about his time on The Dick Van Dkye Show.
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