Rupert Everett: British soldiers are 'wimps'

Rupert Everett brands British soldiers ‘whiny wimps’

Rupert Everett has caused controversy by branding British soldiers ‘whiny wimps’.

In a candid interview with the Telegraph, Everett lashed out at today’s Army while promoting a documentary about a 19th century British army officer named Richard Burton, who explored a male Bombay brothel called The Victorian Sex Explorer.

Everett, whose dad was a major in the Army, said: ‘I did have to do cadet corps for one year at Ampleforth, but it wasn't for me. I would have liked to have been in the Army in Burton's time, because then you could more or less do what you wanted. They would give you four years off to go and explore.

‘Now what do you get in the Army? Bad helmets and Basra. Your guns don't work and everyone hates you when you come back...

‘In Burton's day they were itching to get into the fray. Now it is the opposite. They are always whining about the dangers of being killed. Oh my God, they are such wimps now!

‘The whole point of being in the Army is wanting to get killed, wanting to test yourself to the limits. Now you have to fly 15,000ft above the war zone to avoid getting hit. I don't think there is any point in having wars if that's how you're going to behave. It's pathetic. All this whining!’

And the scathing outburst didn’t stop there. He continued: ‘The whole point of being in the Army is going to war and getting yourself blown up. That and p---ing on prisoners. Yet we all get shocked by Abu Ghraib.

‘But that's war. If you don't like that side of it, don't do it. Of course soldiers are going to p--- on the first prisoners they take. It goes with the territory.’

When it was suggested that a British soldier risking his life in Iraq and Afghanistan is motivated by a sense of duty and principle, Rupert retorted: ‘No, you do it because you are a nasty, jammy ---t and you want to p--- on everyone. That's what drew you to the Army and that's what they pay you for. They pay you to tie up prisoners and attach electrodes to their nipples and testicles and p--- on them. Don't let's complain that only the Americans do that. That is a horrible double standard.’

The Shrek star is well-known for his outspoken opinions, and made waves a few months ago when he called Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro and Robert Redford ‘parodies’ and the Ocean's movies ‘a cancer’.