Michael J. Fox: My ‘Family Ties’ Character Alex P. Keaton Would Have Left GOP ‘Long before Trump’

Michael J. Fox rose to fame in NBC’s sitcom Family Ties in which he played young Republican Alex P. Keaton. Now he has weighed in on where he thinks the conservative character would be today, politically speaking.

In an interview with Variety, the actor said he doesn’t think Alex P. Keaton would be a Republican any more, saying the character would have abandoned the GOP long before Donald Trump became president and before the January 6 riot.

“He would have left,” Fox said. “I don’t think Alex would even see Republican and Democrat now. He’d see normal people and crazy, fascist weirdos.”

Michael J. Fox says #FamilyTies’ Alex Keaton would have abandoned the GOP long before Trump and the Jan. 6 attack: “He would have left. I don’t think Alex would even see Republican and Democrat now. He’d see normal people and crazy, fascist weirdos.” https://t.co/3DLv0iZPAA pic.twitter.com/YRb2nQM9hA

— Variety (@Variety) May 11, 2023

On Family Ties, Alex P. Keaton was a big fan of Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. He regularly read The Wall Street Journal and watched Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser.

Fox told Variety that he was sometimes a “jerk” during the run of Family Ties, which aired on NBC from 1982 to 1989.

In the new documentary Still about Fox’s life and career, archival footage reportedly shows Fox grilling the sitcom’s writers about one of their scripts.

“You just want to slap me. You just want to go, ‘Shut up, sit down, have a Diet Coke and relax and sit in the corner,’” Fox told Variety.

Still is set to begin streaming Friday on Apple TV+.

Fox, who has suffered from Parkinson’s Disease for three decades, recently told  Jane Pauley on CBS Sunday Morning that the disease is getting worse and he doesn’t expect to live to 80.

“I’m not gonna lie, it’s getting harder,” Fox, 61, said. “It’s getting tougher. Every day gets tougher. But that’s the way it is. I mean, who do I see about that?”

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