Did Patrick Stewart say Trump put America on edge of ‘very bad flu infection’?

Claim:

In 2017, late actor Patrick Stewart said: “The fact is, when America sneezes, the world catches a cold. America, I think, is on the edge of a very bad flu infection, and it’s because of the man who is in the White House.”

Rating:

Patrick Stewart, the classically trained actor known for portraying Professor Charles Xavier and Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the “X-Men” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” series and films, died aged 86 on Oct. 28, following “a brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia. 

As tributes poured in following his death, social media users shared a quote (archived) purportedly attributed to the thespian that took aim at Donald Trump. For example, one X user claimed Stewart said of the U.S. president in 2017:

The fact is, when America sneezes, the world catches a cold. America, I think, is on the edge of a very bad flu infection, and it’s because of the man who is in the White House.

Patrick Stewart on Trump (2017): “You might say to me, well, you’re not an American, what has it got to do with you? The fact is when America sneezes, the world catches a cold. America I think is on the edge of a very bad flu infection and it’s because of the man who’s in the White House”

— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) October 29, 2026

Other users posted the alleged remark on Instagram and Facebook, while Snopes users contacted us with numerous inquiries about the late actor, including one email asking whether the comment is authentic. 

In short, the quote is correctly attributed to Stewart. It originates from a video interview (archived) he gave to The A.V. Club — an online newspaper and entertainment website — that published on Nov. 16, 2017, roughly 10 months into Trump’s first presidential term.

The A.V. Club posted several other clips on its website around that time that appeared to be from the same interview with Stewart. The outlet published the videos before generative artificial intelligence was widely available. Therefore, there is no reason to suspect any of the footage is AI-generated.

One clip, titled, “Sir Patrick Stewart is pretty godd*** upset about Donald Trump,” features the in-question quote. It shows Stewart saying (emphasis in bold ours): 

You might say to me, “Well, you’re not an American, what has it got to do with you?” The fact is, when America sneezes, the world catches a cold. And America, I think, is on the edge of a very bad flu infection, and it’s because of the man who is in the White House. I do find, as time goes by, I find myself becoming increasingly anxious about where he’s heading.

Stewart went on to say that he was “scared” about the political situation in both the United States and Europe. He added (time code 1:01):

There are whole aspects of the country that are not being attended to, I mean, there are still all these jobs that haven’t got appointees as yet. And he said, “Well the government was overstaffed anyway, there were too many people.” 

It probably would be fair if I said that the anxiety that I feel about politics in the United States, and particularly what is going on in the White House, reflect what I feel about Brexit, in Europe, and what a disgraceful mistake that is and how it’s being proved to be with every week that goes by.

Aside from his “X Men” and “Star Trek” roles, Stewart was an award-winning stage actor who spent 16 years as a “core member” of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He received one of his two Laurence Olivier Awards for his role as Claudius in “Hamlet” at London’s Novello Theatre and starred in a critically acclaimed performance of “Macbeth” on the West End in London and Broadway.

In 2010, he was knighted for his services to drama.

Stewart had been an ambassador for Refuge — a British charity that helps victims of domestic abuse — since 2007, after growing up in an abusive household.

He married American singer and songwriter Sunny Ozell in 2013 in a ceremony officiated by his friend and fellow actor Ian McKellen. He is survived by a daughter and a son.

Sources