Game of Thrones star Kit Harington claims macho TV characters set a bad example for young men as he hits out at toxic masculinity in the #MeToo era
- Kit Harington, 31, criticised toxic masculinity’, which he feels ‘strongly’ about
- He said young men may be learning it from macho roles in TV or on the streets
- Kit is known for his sword-swinging role as Jon Snow in HBO’s Game of Thrones
Kit Harington is known for his sword-swinging role as Jon Snow in HBO’s violent medieval fantasy series Game of Thrones.
But the actor, 31, has hit out at the stereotype of the mach hero, saying such roles on screen mean young boys often feel like they have to be tough to be respected.
Speaking to The Sunday Times Culture, Kit said he believes ‘something’s gone wrong’ and questioned how to tackle the problem of toxic masculinity in the #MeToo era.
Kit Harington, 31, has hit out at the macho stereotype of men on television, saying it is enforcing toxic masculinity. Pictured: Harington at the 2018 HBO Emmy Party in Hollywood earlier this month
Kit, who recently married his Game of Thrones co-star Rose Leslie, also 31, admitted he feels ‘quite strongly’ about addressing the issue.
‘I feel personally, quite strongly, at the moment — where have we gone wrong with masculinity?,’ he said. ‘What have we been teaching men when they’re growing up, in terms of the problem we see now?’
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Kit believes television may be partly responsible for the rise in toxic masculinity thanks to its very masculine characters.
He continued: ‘What’s innate and what’s taught? What is taught on TV, and in the streets, that makes young boys feel they have to be this certain side of being a man?
Kit plays Jon Snow in HBO’s violent medieval fantasy series Game of Thrones (pictured), and admits macho male characters can make young men feel like they need to behave a certain way
Kit admitted he feels ‘quite strongly’ about addressing the issue of toxic masculinity. Pictured: Kit and his wife and former co-star Rose Leslie
‘I think that’s really one of the big questions in our time — how do we change that? Because clearly something has gone wrong for young men.’
In the interview he also admitted that he wouldn’t be doing any Game of Thrones prequels or sequels when the series comes to an end next summer, saying he is ‘done with battlefields and horses’.
From November Kit will star in a revival of Sam Shepard’s True West which is the story of a film producer and his brother, who is a robber.
He said he won’t be doing any Game of Thrones prequels or sequels when the series comes to an end next summer. Pictured: Kit as Jon (left) and Rose as Ygritte (right) in the series
The actor recently revealed that he considers meeting his wife Rose to be the best thing to come out of Game of Thrones.
‘I met my wife in this show, so in that way it gave me my future family, and my life from here on in,’ he said.
Rose played Ygritte, the love interest of Kit’s character Jon Snow, in the Emmy award-winning fantasy series.
The couple married in June 2018 on the grounds of Leslie’s family estate in Scotland.
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