Denzel Washington schools journalists everywhere with response to red carpet 'fake news' question

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Denzel Washington is a man who exudes integrity and confidence, so much so that his Training Day co-star had to come up with a plan to make sure the actor didn’t steal their scenes.

Last week, on the red carpet for his new film Fences, he was asked about the phenomenon of fake news and in particular a fake news story regarding him (it claimed he’d switched his election support from Clinton to Trump). Denzel masterfully turned the question back on the reporter.

Asked what he made of it, he said: “If you don’t read the newspaper you’re uniformed. If you do read it you’re misinformed.”

“That’s a great question,” Washington fired back swiftly. “What is the long-term effect of too much information?”

“One of the effects is the need to be first, not even to be true anymore. So what a responsibility you all have; to tell the truth, not to just be first, but to tell the truth.

"We live in a society now where it’s just first. Who cares? Get it out there. We don’t care who it hurts, we don’t care who we destroy, we don’t care if it’s true. Just say it, sell it.”

After dropping the bomb on the reporter, Denzel clearly felt a little bad, breaking into a grin, laughing and thanking her before moving on.

The clip has been retweeted nearly 30,000 times (at the time of writing) today, with user @Word2Nerd captioning it: “I pray to be this composed and articulate someday. Bodied her with the utmost respect.”