Tom Arnold Threatens to Fight 'Superman' Dean Cain for Speaking at FRC Event
Actor and comedian Tom Arnold has threatened to fight former "Superman" actor Dean Cain over an ongoing feud sparked by Arnold's anger over Cain's involvement with the Christian conservative advocacy organization Family Research Council.
A Twitter exchange between the liberal Arnold and conservative Cain erupted in the form of a heated face-to-face confrontation between the two actors at Larry King's California studio.
FRC is a social conservative organization that promotes traditional marriage, religious freedom and politically opposes LGBT initiatives.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The argument began on Twitter Sept. 22 when Arnold tweeted that Cain is another Trump-loving "fake Christian coward." Arnold's also called Cain "anti-LGBT" and "racist." Arnold's tweet came the day after Cain spoke at FRC's Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C., an annual gathering of thousands of social conservatives.
Cain replied with a tweet of his own calling Arnold a "coward" and "slanderous weasel."
Video of the encounter shows Cain telling Arnold that he's "not a racist person" and that he "never" has been.
"I've always supported gay rights," Cain is seen telling Arnold. "Let me finish for a second. You're giving me guilt by association."
An "insider" confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter (which first reported on the altercation) that Arnold's Sept. 22 tweet was fueled by his objection to Cain appearing at the Values Voters Summit.
Cain, who starred as Superman in the television series "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," was invited to speak at the summit as part of a panel session with other actors who starred in the movie "Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer."
The crowdfunded movie is a crime drama focusing on Kermit Gosnell, an abortionist convicted of murdering three infants and a mother during a botched abortion, and lack of government inspections of his clinic. The movie comes out Friday.
In Tuesday's encounter, Arnold likened FRC and its supporters to "Nazis."
"Don't be with them," Arnold told Cain. "If I was with Nazis, if I go to their convention, they're like that, Dean, I'm telling you. They're that bad. They're hurting people."
"[Y]ou know how many suicides of gay kids? They f---ing shame them and they try to keep them out of f---ing schools," Arnold added. "Please hear me. That's why it's so visceral."
Arnold accused FRC of "using" Cain.
"Nobody is using me. I speak my mind," Cain replied.
The confrontation ended with a handshake and a hug. However, the debate between the two continued online.
"He called me #racist and said I was anti-LGBTQ. Totally untrue," Cain tweeted later on Tuesday. "After I confronted him, he backed down. That's how it always seems to work."
Arnold responded by telling The Hollywood Reporter that he didn't back down.
"I was giving him a break by not assuming he was stupid about the FRC, which I do liken to Nazis, and now I see he's one of them," Arnold said.
Arnold told the outlet that he was also upset with Cain's decision to star in the "Gosnell" film.
"He played this icon, Superman, but he's an idiot," Arnold was quoted as saying. "If he wanted to fight, I took my glasses off for him. He's a f---ing p---y. Next time I see him we'll get it going and his buddy can film it."
FRC President Tony Perkins responded to Arnold's claims in a statement posted to FRC's website.
"[T]he greatest irony is that the Nazis are the ones who wanted to exterminate millions of people," Perkins wrote. "We're trying to protect them, protect life, and protect women."
Perkins assured that Cain's purpose at the Values Voter Summit was to "have an honest conversation about the state of our culture."
"You can help him by going out and supporting the opening weekend of Gosnell," Perkins assured. "Hollywood hates the truth — so go see the movie that helps spread it about abortion."
Gosnell Producer Ann McElhinney said in a statement that Arnold's attacks against the movie follow a "pattern" of attacks against the movie that have been ongoing from abortion supporters since the crowdfunded project was announced.
"This film has faced harassment and bans ever since we started making it. Most recently Facebook banned 30 ads we wanted to push out — even taxpayer funded NPR refused our advertising." McElhinney said in a statement shared with The Christian Post. "This is a PG-13 movie that was crowdfunded by 30,000 people across America. They really are afraid of the truth."
Arnold, who opposes President Donald Trump, has a new series out on Viceland called "The Hunt for the Trump Tapes," which The New York Times has called a series that "blows smoke with no smoking gun."
