Arnold Accuses Oil Companies of 'Knowingly Killing' People

Schwarzenegger says he's going after Big Oil for 'first-degree murder'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 12, 2018 1:33 PM CDT
Arnold Accuses Oil Companies of 'Knowingly Killing' People
Arnold Schwarzenegger watches the action during the second half of the NBA All-Star basketball game on Feb. 18, 2018, in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Like Big Tobacco, Big Oil has been complicit in "knowingly killing people all over the world," due to the global warming caused by fossil fuels, and they're about to be held accountable for it, per one of California's most high-profile ex-governors. Arnold Schwarzenegger recorded a live podcast for Politico Sunday at SXSW, and he railed against the oil industry, warning he and the law firms he's talking to plan to take some of the biggest oil companies to court. "It's absolutely irresponsible to know that your product is killing people and not have a warning label on it," he said in the podcast, asserting that the oil companies have known since at least the late '50s that fossil fuels would lead to climate change that would put people's lives at risk. And he has harsh words for a company that would do something like that.

"If you walk into a room and you know you're going to kill someone, it's first-degree murder," he said. Schwarzenegger, who hasn't laid out a timetable for when he'll take official action, is set to host in May the Austrian World Summit, where "action heroes" will meet to discuss environmental issues. The former Terminator-Gubernator also touched on President Trump, who said at a Saturday rally in Pennsylvania that Schwarzenegger had "failed" during his turn hosting The Apprentice. "I never know really why the Russians make him say certain things," Schwarzenegger riffed. He got more serious when talking about the #MeToo movement; he himself has been accused of groping and other inappropriate behavior. "I think it's fantastic," he said of the push toward accountability. "You've got to look at it and say, 'I made mistakes. And I have to apologize.'" (More Arnold Schwarzenegger stories.)

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