Why Anthony Mackie’s Lack of Black Masculinity Comment Riled up The Internet But Won’t Cancel Him

Anthony Mackie, star of “Captain America: Brave New World,” is making headlines and unfortunately it’s not for his new movie. Instead it’s for his views of masculinity and the things he’s doing in his personal life. But we’ll let you be the judge as to whether or not the online chatter is warranted.

Conversations first began after clips from his recent appearance on “The Pivot” podcast went viral on social media. In it, Mackie discussed his personal philosophy when it comes to raising his sons, explaining how he keeps his sons humble by not letting them have Jordan shoes, making sure they’re humble and not sucked into the internet allure of them being celebrity kids with the ability of doing crazy stuff and having crazy expectations.

And while that seemed fine on the surface, what got folks in a tizzy was when Mackie said that society has been living through the “death of the American male” and how he ensures that true masculinity is being instilled in his kids.

“In the past 20 years, we’ve been living through the death of the American male. They have literally killed masculinity in our homes and our communities for one reason or another,” he said. “But I raised my boys to be young men. And however you feel about that, you feel about that. But my boys will always be respectful, they’ll always say ‘yes sir, yes ma’am. No sir, no ma’am.’ They will always say thank you. They will always open the door for a lady. They will always make sure their mother is taken care of and provided for. They will always be men.”

“American masculinity has always been different,” he concluded.

As his comments began circulate online, some took issue with his stance and alleged that Mackie’s words were laced with homophobia citing his stress on making sure his boys grow up to be “real men.” Others, however understood the Marvel star’s point and called out those who were purposefully missing his point.

“People are mad that Anthony Mackie is teaching his teenage son to be a man (which is literally his main job in his kids’ lives)… I hate it here,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.

“Anthony Mackie said he don’t wanna raise no YN’s and some of y’all are upset by this?” another user questioned.

“Nothing Anthony Mackie, said in that interview warranted any type of negativity. That’s how fuckin lost as a people we are, that we’re arguing a man installing specific values in his three sons to be GOOD humans. Shit is just ridiculous,” noted one other user.

Added another user: “My only pushback on what Anthony Mackie said is that he associated positive child-rearing with masculinity and I’m not sure where it fits. To me, raising your kids to be good people and to take care of their mother doesn’t fall into a masculine/feminine binary.”

“This is very disappointing, bc you can fell the homophobia through the screen. You know that Anthony would kick any of his kids out, if they came out as LGBTQ,” one disappointed user said.

Said another, “Anthony Mackie is a herb. What the fuck does having a pair of Jordans have to do with raising decent young boys?”

Hmm. Does Mackie have a point or did he take it a bridge too far?