Dick Van Dyke has publicly thrown his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris to be the next U.S. president.
The world-class comedian took to Instagram the night before Tuesdays election to endorse the Harris campaign. In the video, the 98-year-old energetically delivered an impassioned speech about the state of the political climate, using a speech he first said at a Martin Luther King Jr. event in 1964 to illustrate his point. Although he didnt speak about presidential nominees ex-President Donald Trump or Harris outright, it was evident in his posts caption who he was voting for. Dick tagged Harris personal account, the Harris campaign’s account, and the official account of the vice president.
You may remember I used to sing and dance and fall down a lot, actually, he said in the clip.
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Fifty years ago May 31, 1964 I was on the podium with Dr. Martin Luther King, who was addressing some 60,000 people in the Colosseum in LA, and I was there to read a message written by Rod Serling, he added, referring to the Twilight Zone creator and speech writer. I got it out the other day and I think it means as much today if not more than it did then, so if you dont mind, Id like to read it.
The Mary Poppins star then began reading the decades-old speech.
Hatred is not the norm. Prejudice is not the norm. Suspicion, dislike, jealousy [and] scapegoating. none of those are the transcendent facets of the human personality,’ he said, reading what Rod penned. They are diseases. They are the cancers of the soul. They are the infectious and contagious viruses that have been breeding humanity for years.
He continued reciting the message: And because they have been and because they are, is it necessary that they shall be?’ Van Dyke asked. ‘I think not.’
Dick noted that if theres at least one voice left to say welcome to a stranger, one hand outstretched to say enter and share, and ‘one mind remaining to think a thought of warmth and friendship,’ then there was still hope for humanity.
The TV star spoke more of Rods words, saying that the nation still had an essential decency, basic goodness and preeminent dignity flowing through Americans.