“Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill visited the White House on Friday to visit president joe biden and left with a pair of the president's aviator sunglasses and greater respect for the office.
“I love merchandising,” he said, taking off his glasses during a quick appearance at the White House daily press conference after his visit to Biden. Hamill, 72, famous for playing Luke Skywalker, joked with reporters that he would answer some questions as long as they weren't about “Star Wars.”
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“It was an honor to be asked to come to the White House to meet with the president,” he said. He's been in the White House before, during the Carter presidency and Obama administrations, but he had never visited the Oval Office, and that was something extraordinary, he said. Biden showed photographs and other items from the Oval Office, Hamill said.
Actor Mark Hamill takes off sunglasses given to him by President Joe Biden, as he joins White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as she speaks to reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room from the White House, on Friday, May 3, 2024. Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Hamill said Biden told him to call him “Joe,” to which Hamill offered an alternative suggestion: “Can I call you Joe-bi-Wan Kenobi?”
“He liked that,” said Hamill, who also voiced the Joker in “Batman: The Animated Series.”
Both Hamill and the White House were vague about the reason for his visit. But Hamill, a Democrat and Biden supporter with a large social media following, has been posting about the president's re-election campaign this week.
“May the first not quench your thirst for Biden's re-election!” he wrote on May 1.
On Friday he posted: “Let the third be absurd that the guy who tried to steal a fair election is allowed to run again,” referring to Donald Trump and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
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May 4 is unofficially “Star Wars” Day, in part because of the famous Jedi phrase “May the force be with you.” The pun says: “May the four be with you.”
Hamill also lent his voice to “Air Alert”, a downloadable app linked to Ukraine's air defense system. His voice urges people to take cover every time Russia unleashes another aerial bombardment on Ukraine.