Michael J. Fox Blames President Trump for What He Calls America’s “Bully Culture”

Michael J. Fox recently called out what he described as a “bully culture” dominating today’s society. In an interview marking the 40th anniversary of Back to the Future, Fox said, “We live in a bully culture right now. We have bullies everywhere — you don’t need me to point the finger at who, but there are all these bullies.” He went on to explain that in the film, Biff Tannen is the bully, and he also called time itself a bully. Fox did make a personal connection, describing his battle with Parkinson’s disease as a bully he has had to face with resilience and courage.

Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, who became household names after the movie’s release, recently spoke about why they believe the film has endured so long. “We live in a bully culture right now. We have bullies everywhere — you don’t need me to point the finger at who, but there are all these bullies,” Fox told Empire magazine. “In this movie, Biff is a bully. Time is a bully.”

The timing of Fox’s renewed commentary on bullying culture and his linkage of Biff to Trump comes as the nation is still deeply divided by politics.  But Fox’s view fits into a broader narrative seen in Hollywood criticism of Trump, where the former president is depicted as a real-life bully exploiting cultural fears and divisions. However, Fox’s remarks about bullying also carry a personal weight given his own ongoing fight with Parkinson’s, which he openly calls his “biggest bully.”

Fox added, “For me personally, Parkinson’s is a bully. And it’s all about how you stand up to them and the resolve that you take into the fight with them. It’s about your resilience and your courage.” He noted that “there’s a lot to that right now,” saying the movie still connects because “it strikes chords they wouldn’t otherwise recognise.”

While Fox did not name names in this particular interview, his past comments have drawn clear parallels between the character of Biff and President Donald Trump. In a previous interview with The Guardian, Fox said bluntly, “Biff is president!” He criticized Trump for playing on “every worst instinct in mankind,” highlighting how the fictional bully Biff’s persona resonated with the real-world figure’s style and tactics. This is a sentiment echoed by the trilogy’s writer Bob Gale, who confirmed Biff’s wealthy, brash casino owner version from Back to the Future Part II was modeled on Trump’s public image in the late 1980s.

Back to the Future hit theaters on July 3, 1985. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it followed Fox’s character, Marty McFly, a teenager who accidentally travels back to 1955 and nearly erases his own existence while trying to fix his parents’ high school romance. The movie’s runaway success led to two sequels: Back to the Future Part II in 1989 and Back to the Future Part III in 1990. Together, they shaped one of Hollywood’s most iconic trilogies and showed that even in a cynical age, audiences still respond to courage, loyalty, and a kid who just wants to get back home.