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Mission: Impossible star Ving Rhames says Los Angeles police once held him at gunpoint inside his own home after a neighbor called 911 to report that a “large black man was breaking into the house.”
The 59-year-old African-American actor, who is promoting the new sequel Mission: Impossible – Fallout, made his comments on The Clay Cane Show on Sirius XM on Friday after being asked how racism show itself in his life.
He said that earlier this year, he was watching ESPN in his home in Santa Monica one afternoon, wearing nothing but basketball shorts, when he heard noise coming from his backyard. He thought the source of it was his two English bulldog puppies running around. Someone then knocked at his door.
“I get up, I open the door, there’s a red dot pointed at my face from a 9 millimeter,” he said. “And they say, ‘Put up your hands.'”
The actor said that he complied and stepped outside with his hands up, then saw a few cops and a police dog. He said the police captain recognized him because their sons competed against each other in high school sports games together and apologized for the mistake.
Local police have not commented on Rhames’ remarks.
“I said, ‘Well why are doing this?” Rhames said. “He said to me…’A woman called 911, said a large black man was breaking into the house.'”
The actor he and officers went over across the street to the the neighbor in question and that she denied making those remarks.
“My problem is, as I said to [the cops], is what if it was my son and he had a video game remote or something and you thought it was a gun?” he said. “Just like, I don’t know, Trayvon [Martin] had a bag of Skittles.”