Jennifer Lawrence has said she doesn't like to get too political, but the actress decided to weigh in on the gun debate anyway when asked about on-screen violence at the premiere of "Red Sparrow."
On Wednesday, Lawrence attended the New York preimere of her film, and she told the Associated Press that a division between the entertainment industry and politics is needed.
“I think that, you know, we’re the entertainment industry. At some point, there has to be a separation between politics and the entertainment industry or we’re going to suffer,” she said. “This is, it’s an art. And it’s an art to entertain and, as an industry, we will suffer and people need to take that responsibility on themselves.”
The "Hunger Games" actress went on to say, “The same kind of violence is in different parts of the country that don’t have as many problems as we do."
Lawrence, who is no stranger to using firearms in films such as "Winter's Bone" and "X-Men" then clarified, “I think the problems is guns not the entertainment industry.”
Though the star decided to vocalize her opinion on gun violence, in the March issue of Vanity Fair, Lawrence admitted that she tries her best to stay away from politics.
“I’ve always thought that it was a good idea to stay out of politics,” the actress said in the spread. "My family obviously hates every time I talk about politics because it’s hard to see your kid get criticized and they live in Kentucky, where nobody is really liking what I’m saying."
But the actress recently announced that she plans to take a break from acting for the next year in order to focus on local political work.
"I'm going to be working with this organization as a part of Represent.Us ... trying to get young people engaged politically on a local level," the 27-year-old Academy Award winner told Entertainment Tonight in February. Lawrence went on to clarify that her involvement in the organization does not deal directly with party politics.
"It doesn't have anything to do with partisan [politics]," she said. "It's just anti-corruption and stuff trying to pass state-by-state laws that can help prevent corruption, fix our democracy."