Denzel Washington plays Macrinus in Gladiator II from Paramount Pictures.
(Paramount Pictures)

Denzel Washington’s response to the King showing up at the ‘Gladiator II’ premiere is iconic

Denzel Washington is, in a lot of ways, American royalty. So his response to King Charles showing up to the Gladiator II premiere is iconic. Spoiler alert: He didn’t care.

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The global premiere for the new Ridley Scott movie happened in London this week with all the stars in attendance. That includes Washington. While the cast was meeting fans, security reportedly moved many inside the theater because the King had arrived. Hilarious given the fact that the movie is led by Paul Mescal, an Irish actor, but alas.

Washington was still on the carpet when he was allegedly told to go inside by security. One fan and fellow journalist, Laila Heslop, tweeted that Washington stayed outside to talk to those waiting to meet the cast instead. She wrote that he said “I make my own rules.”

That is the most Denzel Washington response. But also, it is so very American. We may hate a lot of aspects of our country but the minute you bring up the monarchy, are blood bleeds red, white, and blue!

Personally, I don’t know why King Charles was at a movie with an Irish lead about the ROMAN EMPIRE to begin with. But making the stars go inside for him!?! No thanks! It’s their night. Not Charles’. So Washington maybe refusing to just go inside makes me so happy. No one knows whether the other cast went in because of King Charles’ arrival or whether they were already inside at the time.

The response online has been hilarious. We are all just praising Denzel Washington and calling him our king.

There is nothing that unites Americans more than our hatred of the monarchy

I understand that America is not a great place. You’d be hard pressed to find someone with logic who thinks otherwise. Many of us are aware of the faults of our country, especially in this current climate. However, when it comes to the monarchy, we do not play around. When in doubt, Americans will take whatever chance we get to take a knock at the King of England.

To be fair, King Charles also has the added bit of America loving Princess Diana working against him. But hey, it is pretty funny that no matter how an American feels about the flag, we will refuse to bow down to the British monarchy.

I don’t know if Denzel Washington was really pushing back at the King or if he just didn’t care because it was his premiere but I truly do love the reaction to this news. We’re all just so happy that someone like Denzel Washington stood his ground and “made his own rules” because come on, it’s Denzel. If he wanted to be the King of America, we’d happily let him do it.

So, here is to Denzel Washington. You do make your own rules and we love you for it. I don’t know if those security guards loved you for it but we sure did love seeing it online.


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Rachel Leishman
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Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.