A Major Republican Actor Is Distancing Himself from His GOP 'Buddy' and Saying He's Friends With Obama

The Rock may be a Republican, but he's making sure everyone knows he has Democrat friends too.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is "a buddy" to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the actor told the Associated Press Friday, despite Johnson's recent demand that Christie's office remove him from a fake movie trailer.

"I know Gov. Christie. We've met a couple of times," the wrestler-turned-action star said. "But in no way was I associated with what he had going on. He had his team of people around him who kind of put that together. I saw it. I was like well, I don't have anything to do with it, so now you've got to pull it down."

Dwayne Johnson poses in front of one of the lion statues by Nelson's column on Trafalgar Square in central London, during a photo call for the film Hercules, Wednesday, July 2, 2014. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

The video was a fake trailer for "No Pain. No Gain," a critique of New Jersey's pension system that riffs on the title of Johnson's film "Pain & Gain."

The original video featured a shot of Johnson walking away from an explosion, and listed "The Rock" among the actors appearing in the fake film.

The offending shot. (Image source: screengrab via YouTube)

Here's the original video:

Here's the new version Christie's office posted, with Johnson removed:

Johnson, 42, is a registered Republican, and he spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2000, but as he distanced himself from Christie's video he said he is "more patriotic than I am political."

"I have good friends who are politicians on both sides," he told the Associated Press. "Clinton is a good buddy of mine, Obama is a good buddy of mine. A multitude of people who are buddies."

There's a solid precedent of Republican actors turning to politics — Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger — and when asked whether he might do the same, Johnson said, "You never say never. I've learned never to say never."

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