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25. 09. 09. - 16:00

Denzel Washington went to see Lakers instead of attending Obama fundraiser

By Thomas Hochwarter

Hollywood superstar Denzel Washington has told how he snubbed an invitation to attend a fundraising dinner for Barack Obama and went to watch a game played by his favourite basketball team instead.

The two-time Academy Award winner told Austrian magazine Live: "I’m very happy that the colour of one’s skin is becoming less and less important. The first black president – it was a good headline, but, if we don’t finally become colour-blind in that regard, we won’t make any progress.

"And, to be honest, Obama cannot be as important to me considering how I acted when Dreamworks boss Jeffrey Katzenberg called. He only phones me if he wants a donation. At that time, he was organising a fundraiser for Obama and asked me to come along. But I went to see the (Los Angeles) Lakers play in the NBA Finals," the "Training Day" actor said.

Washington also revealed how he had become close friends with John Travolta while shooting action thriller "The Taking of Pelham 123".

"I only know him on a very superficial level – the way you know people in Hollywood: from award galas and parties," the 54-year-old admitted.

"But we spent a lot of time together on set during stage changeovers. Before that period, we’ve only seen each other when we started in the morning and when we left at night as John was playing the evil guy sitting in a small chamber, communicating with me over the intercom."

Speaking about Travolta’s decision not to attend any promo obligations for the new movie after the death of his son Jett in January of this year, Washington said: "I can totally relate to that. He often broke down in tears (during the shooting of ‘The Taking of Pelham 123’).

"I cannot imagine what it must be like for a family father (when one of your children dies) – and, to be honest, I don’t want to," he added.

Austrian Times

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