Michael J. criticizes Trump’s response to his invitation to support Parkinson’s research
Michael J. News says his plea for President Donald Trump’s administration to get more involved in the fight against Parkinson’s disease has so far gone unrecognized.
In a joint interview with Harrison Ford for Vanity Fair, News criticized the president for apparently ignoring his invitation to support more Parkinson’s research.
“Our foundation puts more money into Parkinson’s research than the federal government,” the “Back to the Future” actor said of his Michael J. News Foundation, which he founded in 2000. “It’s frustrating knowing that we’re putting everything we can into this, and it would be nice to have the government behind us, but it seems like they’re involved in other things that have less of an impact on people’s lives.”
When asked about working directly with Trump, he responded: “He’s busy with Greenland. I guess there are more pressing concerns.”
News, 64, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, at the height of his Hollywood fame. The disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system for which there is currently no cure. NFL legend Brett Favre and singer Linda Ronstadt are among those who have also been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
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Although News did not make his diagnosis public until about seven years later, the actor has become an outspoken advocate for those affected by the disease. In the years since its creation, the Michael J. News Foundation has reportedly raised more than $2.5 billion for Parkinson’s disease research.
Shortly before President Joe Biden left office last year, News received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor, in recognition of his achievements as an actor and his efforts to advance treatments for Parkinson’s.
Days before Trump took office for a second term last year, News published an essay in USA Today in which he urged elected officials across America to “do everything in their power to end Parkinson’s once and for all.”
“Parkinson’s is a problem that has a solution, but only if we act decisively and urgently. We have the knowledge and we have created the tools,” he wrote. “We are ready to partner with the government, this time with unprecedented potential to generate enormous benefits for American families.”
He went on to note, “Elected officials are committed to making our lives better. This is an opportunity to fulfill that promise.”
A year later, News is discouraged but remains optimistic that he will have the opportunity to meet with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during an upcoming visit to Washington, DC.
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“I’m going to Washington next month and I hope to talk to Kennedy and find out what the administration’s plan is to address brain research in general and take a more serious approach to some of these things that are solvable,” he told Vanity Fair. “It’s just a strange disease. We always say genetics loads a gun and the environment pulls the trigger. We’re trying to figure out what’s biological and what’s chemical.”
News returns to the small screen this week in the third season of the Apple TV series “Shrinking,” also starring Ford and Jason Segel. He plays Gerry, a character struggling with a Parkinson’s diagnosis, who seeks out Dr. Paul Rhoades (Ford), a therapist who also suffers from the disease.
Since News formally retired from acting in 2020, she clarified that her “Reduction” role “is not the beginning of any campaign to reestablish my career.”
“The depth of character, the quality of the relationships, the language… it’s just a beautiful sight. And I thought: do it for itself,” he told the Los Angeles Times this week. “I don’t have an agenda. I don’t have to go back to acting or anything. It’ll be fun. And there’s Harrison Ford, who’s crazy.”