Ian McShane thought the backlash to his Game of Thrones comments was "ridiculous"

Actor Ian McShane has not given a f**k for many years. He's best known for playing Al Swearengen on the HBO show Deadwood, as well as playing Winston the hotel caretaker in the John Wick movies. In 2016, he had a cameo role on the sixth season of Game of Thrones as Septon Ray, the guy who nursed the Hound back to health before getting killed along with the rest of his community by bandits.

Before season 6 began, fans weren't sure if the Hound was still alive; last we saw him, he was left for dead by Arya Stark in the Vale. McShane, not giving a f**k as usual, pretty much gave away the game in interviews beforehand, a no-no during a time when Game of Thrones spoilers were closely guarded secrets. When he was responded to that controversy, he created another one. “You say the slightest thing and the internet goes ape,” he said at the time. “I was accused of giving the plot away, but I just think get a f—ing life. It’s only tits and dragons.”

"Only tits and dragons" became a somewhat infamous description of the show, and apparently McShane still hears about it. Or at least, he still talked about it to The Independent newspaper in a new interview. "It was ridiculous. It was one remark!" the actor exclaimed. "The creators of the show loved it because it just gives it more publicity. I didn’t even think about it at the time because I’m not on social media."

"Everybody’s a critic now. Everybody thinks they know best because they can write anonymously on social media."

I believe McShane when he says he isn't on social media, which means that people must be telling him what's going on there, since he seems more or less well-informed about how people react to his comments. Just let him live his analog life!

Ian McShane thinks back on the cancelation of American Gods

McShane also points a finger at social media when discussing the cancelation of his show American Gods, which ended after three seasons on Starz. "There was a lot of controversy about remarks about race. I thought that it was too strongly angry. And it all got immersed in social media," he said. "I think that was part of the reason for the demise, and the sort of lack of interest in the show. People took sides. It diminished itself."

Personally, I tend to think American Gods got canceled because it tried to stretch a fairly snappy Neil Gaiman book out over multiple seasons; if the show had wanted to, it could have told the whole story in three seasons no problem. But that's just my take. I wasn't there. Ian was.

Next year, you can see Ian McShane as Winston in the John Wick spinoff movie Ballerina.

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h/t Yahoo News