Arnold Schwarzenegger has claimed that he has plans to sue big oil companies for allegedly killing people.
The former California governor said in an interview with Politico’s Off Message podcast that he is speaking with private law firms over the matter.
‘This is no different from the smoking issue. The tobacco industry knew for years and years and years and decades that smoking would kill people, would harm people and create cancer, and were hiding that fact from the people and denied it,’ he said.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (pictured at the SXSW festival in Texas) has claimed that he has plans to sue big oil companies for allegedly killing people
Schwarzenegger, who went from the Terminator to a global environmental activist, continued: ‘Then eventually they were taken to court and had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars because of that.’
The former actor claims that oil companies ‘knew from 1959 on, they did their own study that there would be global warming happening because of fossil fuels, and on top of it that it would be risky for people’s lives, that it would kill’.
‘It’s absolutely irresponsible to know that your product is killing people and not have a warning label on it, like tobacco,’ he told Politico.
‘Every gas station on it, every car should have a warning label on it, every product that has fossil fuels should have a warning label on it.’
Schwarzenegger accused of the oil companies of first-degree murder.
Schwarzenegger, who went from the Terminator to a global environmental activist, said he’s not sure when the suit will be filed but he’s been speaking with private firms
‘If you walk into a room and you know you’re going to kill someone, it’s first-degree murder. I think it’s the same thing with the oil companies.’
Schwarzenegger said he’s not sure when the lawsuit will be filed but the news comes as he prepares to help host an environmental conference in May in Vienna.
The actor was attending the SXSW in Texas when he made the comments.
During the interview, Schwarzenegger also addressed President Donald Trump.
‘I never know really why the Russians make him say certain things,’ Schwarzenegger said.
‘It’s beyond me. Why do you think he says those things? He’s supposed to be very busy,’ he added.
Schwarzenegger has often been critical of Trump, who has also mocked the actor for being fired over his ‘pathetic ratings’ in The Apprentice last year.
He even cracked a joke during his interview while he was talking about his return to the big screen for Terminator 6.
‘The T-800 model that I play, he’s traveling back in time to 2019 to get Trump out of prison,’ Schwarzenegger joked.
Schwarzenegger is set to begin filming for Terminator 6 in June. The movie will hit theaters next year.