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Sunrise viewers slam Paul Hogan's ‘desperately homesick’ plea
He's the homegrown icon that helped put Australia on the map.
But Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan, 81, received little support from fans down under following his appearance on Sunrise on Tuesday morning.
'Desperately homesick'
The LA-based actor told hosts Nat Barr and David 'Kochie' Koch via Zoom that he was 'desperately homesick' and eager to escape California's COVID-19 crisis.
"I am desperately homesick," he said from his mansion on Venice Beach.
"You're living in a country right now, alongside New Zealand, that's the light of the world," he added.
The US is seeing about 40,000 new cases per day, with Hogan's home county of Los Angeles recording the highest number of cases to date.
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"I'm living in LA county which has 10 million people, and about half of 'em got COVID. So am I homesick? You bet your life," he told Kochie when asked how he was faring.
Hogan said that he barely leaves his home due to the staggering rise in crime and homelessness in the beachside suburb since the pandemic began, a situation he recently described as a 'hell hole'.
"The crime's up. I don't go anywhere," he said.
He went on to say that he plans to return to Australia only when the standard two-week hotel quarantine is no longer required.
"The minute I can come home without being locked in a hotel for two weeks, I'm back," he said.
No hotel for Hogan
Kochie pointed out that several Hollywood stars such as Matt Damon, who is currently in the country filming Thor: Love and Thunder, were allowed to skip hotel quarantine and do their 14 days isolation in a luxe private residence.
"You'd be able to survive the two weeks in a hotel, wouldn't you?" asked Nat.
But Hogan dismissed the idea, saying that his youngest son, 23-year-old Chance, was the reason it wasn't possible.
"No. My son would have to be with me, [and] we'd strangle each other," he said.
Then, Kochie remarked that Sunrise regular Hogan appeared the "most down" he'd ever seen but again the Golden Globe winner brushed it off.
He revealed that he was staying positive but looked a bit bloated in the face due to steroids he was taking for a kidney infection.
'Out of touch'
Hogan's homesick plea appears to have fallen on deaf ears, however, with viewers taking to Twitter to slam his comments.
"Quarantine like everyone else ...or stay in America #entitled," wrote one.
"A lot of people would like to be doing it ‘tough’ like Hogan," another added.
"Also said that he wasn’t prepared to isolate for 14 days in hotel quarantine? Give it up Hogey, you made your bed, now lie in it," said a third.
One Twitter user remarked that Hogan seemed "so out of touch with reality".
Others sympathised with the NSW-born star, with one tweeting, "Come on home Hoges. It's way past time".
"Lay off of him," added another. "He said he'd come back when he didn't have to quarantine; he did NOT say he wanted special treatment to avoid that."
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