Sopranos star Michael Imperioli has said that he “forbids” homophobes and bigots from watching his work.
Imperioli, who played mafia captain Christopher Moltisanti in the hit TV show, took to social media to criticise the US Supreme Court for ruling that a web designer was within her rights to refuse to work on LGBTQ weddings.
According to The Mail Online:
‘I’ve decided to forbid bigots and homophobes from watching The Sopranos, The White Lotus, Goodfellas or any movie or TV show I’ve been in,’ Imperioli posted on Instagram Saturday following the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Christian web designer who argued she shouldn’t have to design a page for a same-sex couple.
‘Thank you Supreme Court for allowing me to discriminate and exclude those who I don’t agree with and am opposed to. USA! USA!’ Imperioli continued, before getting more serious and saying: ‘Hate and ignorance is not a legitimate point of view.’
He later commented on his post: ‘America is becoming dumber by the minute.’
The actor is now just one of many activists who have spoken out in recent days against the decision.
The 6-3, conservative-backed decision overturned a lower court’s ruling that Denver-area business owner Lorie Smith was not allowed an exemption from a Colorado law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, is an evangelical Christian who said she believes marriage can only exist between a man and a woman.
She sued Colorado’s civil rights commission and officials in 2016 because she said she feared being punished for refusing to serve gay weddings.
Her case was argued by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a right-wing Christian group that has frequently pursued cases targeting gay and transgender people’s rights.
During oral arguments, Smith insisted she did not want to discriminate against anyone but simply objected to not being able to express her Christian beliefs.
She argued her websites counted as art and were protected by her constitutional right to free speech.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority agreed — even as the liberal justices argued that a ruling in Smith’s favor would encourage other businesses to discriminate against certain customers.
In his majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the First Amendment prohibits Colorado state officials from ‘forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees.’
‘The First Amendment’s protections belong to all, not just to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy,’ he wrote.
‘In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance.’
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, however, said the ruling was ‘profoundly wrong’ in her minority opinion.
‘Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class,’ she said, reading from the bench in a display of the depth of the minority’s feeling.
‘Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people.’
Democrats were also quick to call out the decision, with President Joe Biden saying he is ‘deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans.
‘More broadly, today’s decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations – including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women.’
