Variety Attacks Chuck Norris After His Death – Calls ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ “Cop-Aganda”

The death of Chuck Norris has led many to reflect on the action-movie icon’s life and career. However, a recent piece in Variety uses the moment as an opportunity for grandstanding a political ideology. A piece titled, “Chuck Norris Was a Great Action Star — but Politics May Overshadow His Legacy,” questions whether there’s something insidious about Norris’s brand of screen hero.

Calling Norris “the all-American archetype of the muscled action star,” the article says that “Norris felt commissioned by the military to prove what a good, strong man was.”

Chuck Norris as Colonel James Braddock in Missing in Action – MGM, The Cannon Group

READ: Chuck Norris, Action Star of ‘Walker Texas Ranger’ and Early Internet Culture Dead at 86

Variety goes on to note that most of the films Norris starred in through the 70s and 80s—called “morally simplistic”—followed a similar blueprint. The hero is shown “muscling into a foreign land or othered community” to complete a mission, or “neutralizing the new threat that came into his town.”

Those stories have entertained global audiences for decades. Additionally, they helped forge the legend of Chuck Norris. The problem is not what these films represent. It’s the idea that they need reinterpretation.

From Action Hero to Cultural Punching Bag

In 1993, Norris moved from film to television and became Walker, Texas Ranger. The pilot episode shows him making an illegal arrest across the U.S.-Mexico border. Across nine seasons, Walker often bypassed bureaucracy to bring criminals to justice.

“No one wants to watch a procedural with a big focus on doing things the right way or having to pause the action to get paperwork approved by a local judge,” Variety says. “But the black-and-white, right-and-wrong simplicity of Walker is cop-aganda nonetheless.”

A promotional image featuring the cast of Walker, Texas Ranger – CBS, Cannon Television

READ: Hollywood Struggles to Fill Empty L.A. Soundstages as Productions Flee California

Many had hoped that the “Defund the Police” movement had finally died out. Variety’s loaded language shows it’s still alive in some corners of the Hollywood access media. For many viewers, past and present, Walker embodied the kind of common-sense justice that modern media often lacks. Were audiences mindlessly absorbing propaganda—or simply enjoying the timeless thrill of seeing order triumph over chaos?

Rewriting Walker

The piece claims that Walker was never wrong, good guys and bad guys were neatly defined, and that the show offers “folksy wisdom and unhurried pacing.” It’s a description more suited to a rerun of The Andy Griffith Show than the action-packed, martial-arts-fueled Walker, Texas Ranger.

That subtle reframing, however, allows Variety to ask, “Is a milquetoast, charming version of a lawmaker who lives by his own code even more insidious than a modern antihero?” It’s a question that flips admiration into suspicion—ignoring the very qualities fans celebrated. Was Walker’s code unique? While the show simplified procedures for timeslot and audience, viewers still saw a Texas Ranger who embodied law and order.

From Tribute to Accusation

Perhaps sensing the coming backlash, Variety takes a moment to praise Norris as a “brilliant athlete and top-shelf star.” However, it quickly pivots with a claim that there is “no denying that his roles were part of a body of work used to show American strength, might and the pernicious attraction of taking the law into one’s own hands.” And apparently, watching that “seems less fun” given current events.

Chuck Norris as Major Scott McCoy in The Delta Force – The Cannon Group

READ: Hulu Responds After Sarah Michelle Gellar Calls Out Executive After ‘Buffy’ Reboot Cancellation

Variety even suggests the current U.S. government behaves like a one-man militia, and given “our nation’s divisions in morality, information literacy and overall sense of reality,” Norris’ characters are easier to read as fuel for fringe conspiracy movements than as examples of moral courage.

In other words, according to Variety, anyone who enjoys Chuck Norris movies and supports Trump is probably a conspiracy theorist.

Who Gets to Define a Legacy?

Variety closes by asking, “When a star is the poster boy for American exceptionalism and might, at what point does his legacy transition from escapism to dangerous propaganda?” Never mind Norris’ philanthropic work. Never mind his perseverance on-screen and off. Never mind his devotion to God, country, and family.

Chuck Norris as Cordell Walker in Walker, Texas Ranger – CBS, Cannon Television

READ: Where to Watch Walker Texas Ranger on Streaming

Reducing Norris’ legacy—just a day after his passing—into an opportunity to create political division is not cultural criticism; it is a failure of perspective. Action films and prime-time television once gave Americans something rare: a shared space to enjoy stories of courage, justice, and heroism, regardless of politics.

In choosing to filter that legacy through an ideological lens, Variety reveals something far more telling about itself than about Chuck Norris. The Hollywood access media may speak loudly, but it does not speak for the millions who made Norris a legend—and who still understand exactly why his work resonates.

Why do you think Variety attacked Chuck Norris? Let us know in the comments!

UP NEXT: Ryan Gosling Had Discussions With Marvel to Play Ghost Rider