When TV shows get turned into movies you can expect the stars of the original version to have an opinion. However, Erik Estrada seems confused as to exactly what his opinion is about the new CHiPS movie. The actor who played Frank "Ponch" Poncherello in the original TV series has lashed out at a report that he called the new film "pure trash," except that his official Twitter account did endorse the idea.
Erik Estrada blasts The Wrap's report as "fake news," claiming that he never said it was trash. He then follows it up with another Tweet at The Wrap saying that he wouldn't criticize the film since he hasn't seen it, and thus wouldn't know its quality. Technically speaking he may be right. However, a few hours prior to The Wrap's article, Estrada's account did retweet somebody who did call the film pure trash, which could certainly be seen as endorsing the language.
It's entirely possible that this is a case of lines getting crossed online. Many celebrities have other people that manage their Twitter accounts much of the time. It's possible that Erik Estrada wasn't the one that retweeted the comments about the film being trash, and he may not even realize that the tweet is there. It hasn't been deleted from the account, as you might expect to see if somebody was trying to walk back their endorsement.
It's also possible that Erik Estrada just has an issue with the way that The Wrap phrased their headline, that he doesn't feel retweeting somebody's comments is the same thing as him saying those comments, and so he objects to the language that implies that he actually said it.
It's far from the first time that the star of a TV series has had less than pleasant things to say about the film version of their property. Pamela Anderson was critical of the upcoming Baywatch films when the project was first announced. Of course, we now know that she'll cameo in the movie, so it would seem that her opinion shifted.
Whatever you think of the upcoming CHiPS movie, it is a thing that's happening, so the rest of us better get used to it. We'll discover whether or not the movie is actually trash when it hits theaters March 24.
