Actor Leonardo DiCaprio sat on the White House lawn on Oct. 3, and proclaimed that anyone who doesn’t not believe in climate change “should not be allowed to hold public office.”
“The scientific consensus is in and the argument is now over, if you do not believe in climate change, you do not believe in facts or in science or empirical truths and therefore, in my humble opinion, should not be allowed to hold public office,” DiCaprio stated at the livestreamed White House South By South Lawn (SXSL) event.
The invited crowd responded with cheers.
South By South Lawn, or SXSL, was an all-day,Obama White House event hosting various liberal panel discussions about issues like food, sustainability and climate change as well as musical guests — inspired by the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas.
DiCaprio was on hand to moderate a one-sided conversation about the threat of manmade climate change featuring President Barack Obama and Dr. Katharine Hayhoe (VIDEO). Obama and Hayhoe took turns arguing the urgency of the climate problem to a friendly crowd, discussing alternative energy, promoting fossil fuel regulations or carbon taxation and warning about worsening “extreme weather.”
Following the talk, his latest climate documentary, Before the Flood, made its U.S. premiere to all those attending. The film will air on National Geographic channel on Oct. 30 — conveniently just eight days before the presidential election.