Josh Brolin apologizes for breaking coronavirus quarantine
Josh Brolin attends the Center Theatre Group's "A Play Is a Poem" opening night performance at Mark Taper Forum on September 21, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Credit: Getty Images/David Livingston
Actor Josh Brolin has apologized for posting a since-removed Instagram video over the weekend showing him and his family breaking coronavirus isolation to visit his father, James Brolin, and the elder Brolin's wife, Barbra Streisand.
"I just posted a video [and] I was very humbled by the response," Josh Brolin, 52, said in more than 3-minute video, captioned "Thanks for the reset. #respectsocialdistancing," that followed a social-media backlash.
"My father lives next door to us, and we had a plan to go see them and not be near them," continued the actor, whose copious credits include Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. "And that plan was broken, and that's our responsibility. We were going to pick something up and show Bean," his and wife Kathryn's 17-month-old daughter Westlyn, "the pool because we don't have a pool, and yeah, I think it was irresponsible."
"It's hard to be honest," he went on, "and say, 'Ah, maybe I screwed up.' And I knew that that was in the air. Not because of the responses, but the responses brought me back to my own truth. And it's humbling as hell, man, because I know that there's some people out there, it's no masks, no gloves, no interest in it, they think it's in your head, that you'll survive because of immunity that's created because of your own psychic weight. But I know for me that's not the case … and I apologize about that."
Brolin — who lives in Malibu, California, near Emmy Award-winner James Brolin, 79, most recently a star of CBS' 2015-2019 "Life in Pieces," and Grammy Legend and two-time Oscar-winner Streisand, 77 — added, "I'm not an advocate of doing anything outside of taking care of each other and making sure that we get through this, even if we go overboard … and are too protective; at least we're doing it for a reason."
After acknowledging the families suffering from the effects of the pandemic, he concluded by saying, "I'm very happy to be reminded" of the need for social-distancing "as it is extremely important to me and I do care about my fellow man. … So thank you guys, honestly. … Everybody stay safe and be well."