Seagal continued to make films, mostly live on video, although the glamor of early 1990s thrillers such as Hard to Kill and Under Siege has long since faded into nothing. Over the past three decades, Seagal has faced multiple charges of sexual harassment and sexual assault (which he has denied). This may have contributed to his drastic departure from the Hollywood mainstream, but it is not the only factor. Even during his heyday, Seagal was widely regarded as a high-octane schlock salesman – a martial arts man with all the energy, whose ability to deliver any kind of dialogue in a convincing way was rather out of the question. In recent years, Seagal’s cinematic work has migrated to dark flow productions (and in the 2017 Chinese film China Salesman, also starring Mike Tyson). But he found a new way to hold the world’s attention: as one of Hollywood’s few vocal cheerleaders for Russia. In 2018, Vladimir Putin anointed Seagal as a special envoy to Russia to improve ties with the United States. Seagal, a Russian citizen since 2016, has made headlines in recent months for his daring statements about the war in Ukraine (a country that was banned from entering in 2017 after being considered a “threat to national security”). On Sunday (April 10th), the actor spoke at a dinner for his 70th birthday in his honor at a restaurant in Moscow, which was also attended by several prominent Putin allies (including Russian state television presenter Vladimir Soleyev. by the Guardian as “one of the country’s most notorious propagandists” and Russian journalist Margarita Simonyan, both of whom have been included in the EU sanctions list. Speaking to the crowd, he told them: “I love you all and we are united, both in thick and thin.” That Seagal would nurture such sentiment should not come as a shock: he has previously described Putin as “one of the greatest world leaders, if not the greatest world leader he lives today.” In 2014, he described the annexation of Crimea by Russia as “very reasonable”. No wonder people – including popular American podcaster Joe Rogan – were deceived earlier this year by sharing a fake CNN report about the actor who falsely claimed that Seagal had joined Russian special forces stationed near Kyiv. With most celebrities, such a story would be as transparently constructed as it comes. With Seagal, clearly, everything seems reasonable. What is it about Seagal that makes it such a cheap weird tabloid? At some level, the attractiveness is deep. He is a man with a strange appearance, according to Hollywood standards: with his tinted glasses, his imposing frame and the goat as thick as the shoe brush, he is an aesthetic that catches the eye and does not let him go. His career is replete with stories of behind-the-scenes dysfunction, whether it’s his sad appearance on Saturday Night Live or alleged confrontations with co-stars and stunt coordinators. But Seagal’s love for Russia has only a grim magnetism. At a time when celebrities stumble upon themselves to realize how strongly they oppose Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Seagal is an awful far-sighted figure. Even Gerard Depardieu, a Russian citizen who had previously praised the Putin regime, condemned the war, prompting a response from the Kremlin. But again, Seagal is a Hollywood frenzy in almost every sense of the word – a scoundrel whose unique cultural relevance takes the form of a handful of fictional thrillers from 30 years ago. His words do not really affect anyone, no matter how unacceptable they are. If a stickler is cut by throwing aikido in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Now, before anyone mentions it, there is obviously some irony in dedicating an 800-word column to a man I argue should be given universal silent treatment. But that’s the problem with Seagal. Once it is in your peripheral vision, it is difficult not to look. However, when the dust settles and Putin is judged in the cold light of history, Seagal will be more than a strange, sad footnote.
