Actor Dan Aykroyd has drawn a sharp contrast between life in Canada and the United States, describing the latter, specifically California, as experiencing "frankly medieval times" due to its homelessness crisis. The comments were made in a resurfaced clip from "The Adam Carolla Show."
Aykroyd, who was born in Canada and has his Crystal Head Vodka brand manufactured there, reflected on a conversation with an Israeli friend who asked him what it was like to live in a country without war. Aykroyd recounted driving through the "bucolic countryside" in Canada, heading to a drugstore for ice cream, when the question was posed.
"Here I am driving through the bucolic countryside ... and we're in Canada," Aykroyd said. "We're driving to the drugstore to get an ice cream, and he tells me, 'What it is like to live in a land where there's no war?' I thought to myself, ‘Boy, do I take things for granted, you know, around this place.’"
He extended this observation to California, noting the coexistence of wealth and destitution. "It's beautiful there, beautiful houses and beautiful shops and lovely wide boulevards and 60,000 homeless," Aykroyd stated, referring to Santa Monica. "So the underside and the overside will always, always be there."
Discussing his driving habits, Aykroyd admitted to being cautious. "I drive very carefully in the car. I don't drive prison hours at night, have a gated place to live ... lock up at night. Bring my family close, whereas really I would like to take my family and let them run in the park at 1 in the morning. But, no. We have to be so guarded now."
Carolla added to Aykroyd's observations, citing the example of Jay-Z and Beyoncé purchasing a $200 million home in Malibu, which requires driving through a homeless encampment to reach. "That's where we're at, which is ultra rich and then people just expiring on the streets in squalor," Carolla commented.
Aykroyd expressed a hopeful sentiment that those with means might be moved to help. "Well, thankfully, knowing people like that, they're going to drive through their driveway, see that, and immediately start to act to try to alleviate and help in some way, because that's the kind of people they are," he said.