OHMYGOSSIP — Louis Theroux “wrestled” with amplifying “harmful” voices in his new documentary series.
The ‘Forbidden America’ host experienced an internal conflict about making the BBC series, in which various people express racist, misogynist and homophobic views – but Louis ultimately decided that “by not reporting on it, it’s not going to go away”.
Asked if he was anxious about giving space to people with dangerous views, the 51-year-old star told the Radio Times: “That’s a great question and it’s something I’ve wrestled with a lot.”
Louis – who followed powerful figures with large internet followings – realised that their “voices are already amplified”.
He reflected: “I think the first point would be that these voices are already amplified, right?
“I mean, they already have access to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of tender young ears, eyes and minds by dint of the internet, so the fact that this phenomenon exists in the world, and by not reporting on it, it’s not going to go away.”
The award-winning TV star hopes that “reasonable people” will be able to see his true intentions behind making the series.
Louis said: “The other thing to say is that, I believe that with the experience I’ve had telling these stories over the years, I can bring a kind of a critical, forensic, journalistic set of skills, and that I can interview and put a programme together in such a way that people will be given the sufficient sort of interrogation. To mean that most reasonable people will see it, and will realise, you know, what it all really means.”
Louis also insists he held his interviewees to account, rather than just proving them with a “platform” to air their dangerous views.
He said: “The ways it represents ways of thinking that are dangerous or poisonous or harmful … But it’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m just going to put them on a platform and give them a sort of unexamined, chance to reach out to people.'”
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