NYPD Stopped, Frisked Breaking Bad Actor Giancarlo Esposito at Gunpoint
Buried inside a Wrap interview with Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito — AKA Los Pollos Hermanos proprietor Gus Fring — and unearthed by Gothamist is the story about the time Esposito was stopped and frisked by the NYPD. At gunpoint.
Days before the interview, Esposito was stopped and frisked by New York police while walking out of a theater where he was rehearsing a play. After several frantic minutes – with him and officers screaming, and their guns drawn – they realized they had the wrong guy. Their suspect had a hoodie, and Esposito was wearing a suit. When it was over, one of the officers recognized him, from his recent turn on ABC's "Once Upon a Time."
Though blacks and Hispanics are the overwhelming targets of NYPD stops (87% in 2011), Esposito says he's put the incident in his rearview.
"I refuse to walk around, carrying that sack of racist crap," he told the site. "Luis Buñuel made great movies. And in all his movies there's one old guy… who walks through the background with a big pillowcase, a sack of shit. That's your stuff. So when I'm healing, I'm healing my stuff."
In case you were wondering, the play in question is Storefront Church, and you can check it out at the Atlantic Theater in Chelsea.
[photo via Getty]