Terry Crews revives ‘Idiocracy’ President Camacho at SXSW campaign teaser

Austin American-Statesman
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It doesn’t get much faker than a fictional character holding a mock press conference to promote a South by Southwest party for a mock 2024 presidential campaign run.

But fake can be fun when the character is “Idiocracy” future president Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho and the actor, still-buff Terry Crews, shows up strapped to the top of a Hummer shouting, “The future is (expletive)’d up!”

It happened Saturday morning at Austin’s Favorite Pizza on Sixth Street, where a mock press conference was set up with members of a suit-wearing press corps and hired supporters waited for the very silly character to tell everyone what the future holds.

Terry Crews, in character as President Camacho from "Idiocracy," holds a T-shirt gun after announcing his run for president Saturday at South by Southwest.
Terry Crews, in character as President Camacho from "Idiocracy," holds a T-shirt gun after announcing his run for president Saturday at South by Southwest.

In Mike Judge’s “Idiocracy,” the 2006 film about a very dumb future, Camacho is a gung-ho, gun-totin', curse-word spewing badass. At Saturday’s press conference, Camacho, wearing a muscle shirt and American-flag bandana, did not disappoint as he warned of what the year 2524 holds.

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“China owns the moon! Big Macs cost $80! The DMV bought HBO!” he bellowed. “Tony Stark died for our sins!”

According to sources who helped organize the press conference, Crews was not promoting a sequel to “Idiocracy” (that we know of), or an energy drink, or a streaming service, or anything else. Crews owns a PR firm and apparently wants to keep the character going and throw a SXSW party.

That party? A mock campaign launch party Monday night at Bangers on Rainey Street featuring musical guests Thundercat, Toasters ‘N’ Moose and Armani White, free and open to the public.

Terry Crews, in character as President Camacho from "Idiocracy," takes off through downtown Saturday on the back of a truck after announcing a presidential run at South by Southwest.
Terry Crews, in character as President Camacho from "Idiocracy," takes off through downtown Saturday on the back of a truck after announcing a presidential run at South by Southwest.

Crews as Camacho posed for pictures, flexed his muscles, and rode around on the Hummer around downtown promoting ideas like cars that run on farts (“I’m making energy right now!”) and complaining that we in the present have yet to make a “Snakes on a Plane” sequel. He finally got tired of answering “stupid-ass questions” and got back on the Hummer for another go-round to cheers of, “Camacho! Camacho! Camacho” from the mostly hired crowd.

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The lines he gave seemed so cleverly scripted that it’s hard to imagine Judge isn’t involved somehow. Could we be hearing about a streaming reboot of “Idiocracy” soon? Is Crews just laying groundwork for some grand return of his character for a more appreciative audience than what greeted the film back in 2006?

We’ll be waiting to find out, but in the meantime, Camacho’s “2020Fo” bumper stickers and red, white and blue shutter glasses will have to do.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Terry Crews is back as President Camacho for SXSW event in Austin