TONI LOPEZ: For 91.9 KVCR News, I'm Toni Lopez. Today, I'm speaking with Benjamin Byron Davis. He's best known for voicing the character Dutch Van Der Linde in the video games Red Dead Redemption 1 and [Red Dead Redemption] 2. Davis has been sharing news about federal funding cuts on his social media for months.
I'm speaking with him about his passion for public media and why he's using his platform in this way.
Hi Ben.
BENJAMIN BYRON DAVIS: Hey there Toni.
It's really exciting to be here. It's wonderful to be in touch.
TONI LOPEZ: My first question is why are you using your platform to advocate not just for public media but a variety of other issues?
BENJAMIN BYRON DAVIS: Because one of the core responsibilities I think of any artist, whatever medium they're working in, is authenticity. And all things being equal, I'm happy to be quiet to a point.
But when we are faced with those that are seeking to change the way our government functions, the way the First Amendment protects the press, the way our citizenry is informed, and they're not looking to do that for any reason other than control of the cycle at best and control of the citizenry at the darkest, these freedoms must be exercised in order to be protected.
TONI LOPEZ: From what I've looked into with you and your history, I know that you have been a unionized actor for a long while. I was kind of wondering what got you into your advocacy and fighting for rights such as your own, whether it be as an actor or as a U.S. citizen?
BENJAMIN BYRON DAVIS: Well, I love that question. I don't know that I have a good answer. I have an evolving answer.
This will seem like I'm changing the subject, but I'm not. The strike that the writers and the actors just went through that was a great challenge both to people in the union, but also to a great many people who are not in the union, who work transportation, who work craft services, who do everything that a set requires to be done.
The work stoppage impacted union workers and non-union workers alike. Most of it was centered around this nascent technology of generative artificial intelligence and basically writers and actors wanting to be compensated if their work was used to train these models and wanting to be compensated if those models were then making money.
Beyond that, we also wanted to make it so expensive for studios to employ generative AI that we would be cheaper so we could keep working because we like to work. No one wants not to work.
But in this conversation, a lot has been brought up about, well, what is the nature of AI and why is AI inferior to a human being?
I think it comes down to ultimately what I've always believed, which is art is in and of itself political. It's a political act.
People may want to tell an athlete to shut up and dribble. They may want to tell an actor to just say the lines and go hide. The problem with that is that what it takes to devote yourself to a discipline like an athlete does or an artist does yields a great deal of wisdom. One of the things that artificial intelligence won't ever have.
I guess what I mean to say is the First Amendment is a responsibility as much as it is a freedom. And so I would rather things were calmer. I would rather that we did not have a state of the world where there is wars and misery on so many fronts.
I wish that things were different than they are, but they're not. And I don't know that I can do much good, but I do know that I believe in this country.
I believe I am the product of people that have lived in this country for as long as this country has been here.
And I am the product of first generation Americans that were refugees. And I am deeply delighted to be a citizen of this nation where birthright is not what is required to be a good citizen.
Deciding to be an American, becoming a part of the idea that America has never been, but hopefully is always trying to be a more perfect union, is something that I think is very valuable. I mean, it's a great deal to me.
TONI LOPEZ: All right, slightly switching the topic just to get something lighter. You have spent a lot of time with your character, Dutch Van Der Linde, and I was wondering how you think he would react to the ongoing news cycle and what's going on now.
BENJAMIN BYRON DAVIS: Well, let me begin by saying that Dutch is the greatest puddle I ever could have stepped in, booking Dutch Van Der Linde. And as much authorship as I feel, and I have some over that character, he is the product of a great many very talented writers, a great many talented animators, a great many talented developers. He is not mine.
In fact, more than he is Rockstar's, he is the fans of the games. So I would caution that I cannot speak authoritatively about his opinion, even if we could.
I mean, I think, listen, if we brought Dutch to life right now, I think he'd start screaming, like, what the hell are these cars?
But I will tell you this, that toxic leadership, perhaps even toxic masculinity, is something that we were acutely aware the character Dutch gave us an opportunity to examine.
So, you know, if we go by the text, we know that Dutch was enamored with the founders and not so enamored of where the Gilded Age had taken America. When he was speaking to his highest angels, I think he sounds quite a bit like a freedom fighter.
But when he's speaking to his baser instincts, clearly he enjoyed the finer things. He liked his clothes. He liked his tent. He was happy to be comfortable when others in the gang were not.
So like many people that achieve the kind of station Dutch found himself in, he was not immune to hypocrisy.
I will say that Dutch was not a big fan of bullies, and he usually would take care of them rather quickly.
But again, speaking of hypocrisy, many could point to Dutch and say he was a bully.
So I don't really know, Antonia. It's an interesting question. I think that what makes him a good character is that more than one answer would serve.
TONI LOPEZ: That was still a really fun look into the character.
This report was produced by Toni Lopez, with audio editing by Shareen Awad.
