Schwarzenegger wants to sue Big Oil for ‘First Degree Murder’
Movie star, former California governor and global environmental activist Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced that he is taking oil companies to court “for knowingly killing people all over the world.”
“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. Then eventually they were taken to court and had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars because of that,” Schwarzenegger said at a live recording of Politico’s ‘Off Message’ podcast.
The actor added that “The 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.”
Schwarzenegger revealed that he’s in talks with several private law firms and is preparing a filing.
“We’re going to go after them, and we’re going to be in there like an Alabama tick. Because to me it’s absolutely irresponsible to know that your product is killing people and not have a warning label on it, like tobacco,” he said.
“Every gas station, every car should have a warning label on it; every product that has fossil fuels should have a warning label on it.”
The former professional bodybuilder argued that at the very least, this would raise awareness about fossil fuels and encourage people to look to alternative fuels and clean cars.
“I don’t think there’s any difference: 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.”
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