Amy Schumer Says She Regretted Writing ‘Trainwreck’ After Theater Shooting
Image by Getty Images/Instagram
By Maia Efrem April 26, 2016
Amy Schumer opened up about her reaction and feelings in the aftermath of a Louisiana cinema shooting that killed two and injured nine during a screening of Schumer’s “Trainwreck.”
In a candid interview and profile for Vanity Fair’s May issue, Schumer recalled the moment when she found out about the July 23, 2015 shooting from her publicist. “It really … I don’t know. It’s like when the ‘Dark Knight’ shooting happened, and in Paris. The idea of people trying to go out and have a good time — you know, like looking forward to it?—I don’t know why that makes me the saddest,” she says, crying. “So my publicist told me. And then I put on the news. I was by myself in a hotel, and I was just like, I wish I never wrote that movie.”
When friends reached out to comfort her, telling her that the shooting was not her “fault,” Schumer said she felt even worse. “I just felt helpless and stupid,” she said.
My heart is broken and all my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Louisiana.
— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) July 24, 2015
After a failed attempt at escape, the shooter, 59-year-old John Russell Houser, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the theater.
In the months since the shooting, the actress and comedienne has been a vocal and active gun-control supporter, teaming up with cousin and New York Senator Chuck Schumer to call on Congress to pass stricter gun control legislation.
Schumer participated in a video for Everytown For Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates gun control. The celebrity-heavy video also features President Barack Obama, Michael J. Fox, Jennifer Aniston, Nathan Lane and more.
“Every event I go to, you see the same people, and they’re wearing a button of their kid, or kids, or their mother, or someone who died and didn’t have to,” Schumer said to Vanity Fair, adding “And they’re like, ‘Thank you. Please keep going.’ Because, unfortunately, someone with some celebrity brings more attention to it than a politician.”
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