Joseph Gordon-Levitt has addressed reports that he attended secret conferences held by Palantir founder Peter Thiel.
The Dialog conferences were a gathering of important people in business and entertainment to discuss the future of technology, with reports from Wired and The Hollywood Reporter described unusual discussions taking place, as well as leaking names of famous people attending these retreats. The nature of the discussions, and political stance of Thiel, has made attending the events controversial.
Gordon-Levitt, known for the films 500 Days Of Summer, Looper, and Inception, was among those names. The actor took to Instagram to confirm he attended two conferences, but denied meeting or knowing Thiel, or staring his values.
“I understand why people have questions and are suspicious,” his statement began. Some of the headlines and posts circulating about this are alarming, if not bizarre. So let me clarify: I have been to two Dialog conferences. But, I do not know Peter Thiel. I’ve never met him. I’ve never spoken with him or his representatives. I’ve never seen him at an event. From what I’ve read about his views, we are political and ideological opposites.”
He continued: “At the Dialog conferences I’ve been to, there were a wide variety of people, with a wide variety of opinions, some I agreed with, some I didn’t. I can’t speak to every person named in the reporting, but my experience was not of a single ideological gathering.”
The statement concluded: “Over the last couple of years, I’ve been focused on trying to make a positive impact on how the future unfolds, especially when it comes to tech and Al. Part of that work means forming relationships with all kinds of people, trying to understand their perspective, and trying to get them to understand mine. Sometimes it’s productive to engage with those we oppose.”
A co-founder of PayPal, and the first outside investor in Facebook, Thiel notably made headlines in 2016 when he was revealed by Reuters to be paying Hulk Hogan’s legal fees in his lawsuit against the website Gawker, which led to the website’s closure.