Clint Eastwood finally explains his infamous empty-chair speech and calls it 'silly'

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It was one of the oddest moments in political convention history and of 2012 in general.

Clint Eastwood unforgettably spoke to an empty chair at the 2012 Republican National Convention. He was pretending as if it were President Obama.

The stunt — which was dubbed "Invisible Obama" and even has its own ongoing Twitter account — made people scratch their heads, wondering what was going on in the older actor's head. Roger Ebert tweeted that it made Eastwood come across as "sad" and "pathetic" and that it was "unworthy of him."

Now, Eastwood is acknowledging that the whole thing was "silly."

In a new interview with Esquire, Eastwood replied to a question about what troubles him most with, "We're not really … what troubles me is … I guess when I did that silly thing at the Republican convention, talking to the chair."

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When the reporter said he didn't call the chair incident "silly," Eastwood continued:

"It was silly at the time, but I was standing backstage and I'm hearing everybody say the same thing: 'Oh, this guy's a great guy.' Great, he's a great guy. I've got to say something more. And so I'm listening to an old Neil Diamond thing and he's going, 'And no one heard at all / Not even the chair.' And I'm thinking, That's Obama. He doesn't go to work. He doesn't go down to Congress and make a deal. What the hell's he doing sitting in the White House? If I were in that job, I'd get down there and make a deal. Sure, Congress are lazy bastards, but so what? You're the top guy."

Eastwood then referred to his disappointment toward the modern era of political correctness.

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