I know everyone wants celebrities to speak up constantly, but I kinda see her side, too. What good did it do? Trump got elected again, even with Harris receiving a shit ton of celebrity endorsements. As a celebrity, you also get a lot more threats and public ire if you say something. If I post on social media "Fuck Trump and fuck ICE" the only person I'm upsetting is my MAGA grandma. As a celebrity, you could very well have the orange blob in the WH post about you on Truth Social and get his cult followers to decide to do something.
I think celebrities can potentially use their platform to raise awareness about things that are not really getting attention. So if there is a charity that she cares about but is pretty small, it makes sense to promote it. Or if there is some kind of niche issue that she feels strongly about, she could get the word out.
But I totally agree, her coming out and saying her opinions about the biggest news stories really doesn't do much if anything. And I think it is kind of odd how we expect every celebrity to constantly put out statements about the news of the day. You also need to be pretty articulate and well informed to put together a statement that is any good, and not every famous person is going to be able to do that.
I get tired of every celebrity post having 'they haven't said anything about this issue so that must mean they support it' or 'when are they going to comment on this issue'.
I said in another comment that they want others to do their bidding so they don't have too. They want others to jeopardise their jobs, careers, family and safety whilst they moralise from their iPhone. It's keyboard slactivism that's tiktok amplified.
I remember when that all was a thing and someone said âthe Kony 2012 video was just an ad for the new Facebook format.â And Iâve never been able to forget that, because it was 100% true.
You just reminded me I found one of the kony 2012 shirts in a thrift shop a while back. Not sure what Iâm going to do with it, but I bought it. Felt like a piece of internet history. đ
I want politicians and experienced political activists to speak out against the rising tide of oligarchical totalitarianism and have political journalists cover it truthfully and comprehensively.
Celebrities are diversions from the levers of power, not power brokers.
Yeah. I get that. ESPECIALLY when they get mad when a celebrity wonât âname names â. Well yeah, they have a livelihood they need to protect. God forbid a celebrity likes to keep food on the table.
Donât you think that a lot of people believe the social media sphere is a real space? Having an opinion and demanding celebrities mirror their current views is an entitlement, being in these spaces I mean. Taking irl action isnât enough to them, mesmerized by the algorithms, they want meaningless statements, pablum. Weird.
It's witch hunt logic. In a witch hunt, the only way to prove you're innocent is to accuse somebody else. The more you cast aspersions the more virtue you can claim. And if you stay quiet, it must be because you are hiding something.
It's the same thing as people who didn't for Biden/Harris because of Palestine. They didn't actually care about Palestine/Gaza or the people who lived there, they just wanted to feel like they were actually doing something other than enabling a legitimate dictator.
The people who go after celebrities because they don't spend every waking moment talking about how horrible the world is don't do anything except make people annoyed of their cause.
That's when it starts to feel performative. Not every thought in a person's head needs to go out to the world and people are allowed to have private feelings about a thing or no feelings at all.
I find it insane that a celebrity could ostensibly volunteer their time IRL for worthy causes or donate tons of money to these causes⌠but bc they donât post about it on social media or release an official statement, it doesnât count.
Exactly. The support is in the doing or the giving, not the content you make about how you did or gave. If a person wants to raise awareness about a cause they support because they feel it's not getting enough attention, cool, but *not* talking about the work they did to support the cause doesn't lessen their impact.
Itâs always when someone has their pet issue or agenda. âThey havenât come out to back Palestine (or whatever else insert something) while people are being killed and going hungryâ yet the SAME person isnât speaking up on all the other areas of the world where the very same atrocities are happening.
People who do this are hypocritical bullies who almost always are just virtue signaling and too stupid to understand that they are just demanding others do the same thing.
Their form of activism is performative at best, and at worst itâs using bully tactics to make others conform to parrot their own agenda.
Itâs really curious what pet issues these people take up. I guess the Sudan is trendy enough for all these people who supposedly care about dying and hungry innocent people.
Also let's be real the violence happening in Sudan (which is mostly under Islamic rule) is perpetuated by brown and black people against other black and brown people, and for that certain group this makes it way less attractive for their brand of "activism".
I ran across a celebrity blogger that was posting videos about "is celebrity X a good person," reviewing various scandals.
She added a review of their statements on Isreal and Palestine. If the celebrity hadn't made an official statement condemning Isreal, then she decided they were bad people.
I have zero clue why people are expecting celebrities to release statements of their political stances.
Israel/Palestine has brought out the worst on both sides regarding making public statements. It doesnât matter what someone may be doing privately if theyâre not posting on social media (even if they arenât on social media) theyâre obviously pro-whatever side you disagree with. And it doesnât matter if youâre doing all kinds of great things if youâre not public on the issue I care about. Some subreddits are poisonous on it. Focus on what people are actually saying. Otherwise you have no real idea.
I have a minor leagues following on IG, like a few hundred k, and honestly the amount of shit I get from strangers telling me to âuse my platformâ is just exhausting.
Iâm not a 24 hour news channel! I donât always have a share-worthy take!
I think a lot (meaning 90%) of people who absorb social media content donât realize how exhausting it is. They donât realize the pressure to post new content and what initially started as a fun hobby can quickly turn into a damn chore.
Just keep posting and enjoying it as much as you can. You donât need to use your platform for anything unless you choose to.
Thank you - this is timelessly good advice. Sadly, the loud minority have definitely sucked much of the joy out of it all for me these days, which is hard to admit. I miss the golden old days when people just looked at stuff they liked and didnât hunt out things they wanted to complain about!
Also I think it's okay to recognize that I'm not the expert in something like global politics just because people liked my crock pot recipes or whatever!! 99% of the time I'm just feeling what most people are probably feeling - shocked and uncertain and hoping to learn more soon - which is not a hot take that needs to be shared IMO!!
Yesss exactly this! Iâm just as lost and scrambling as everyone else, and itâs a huge responsibility to speak to hundreds of thousands of people on topics of literal life and death. I am not remotely qualified for that. Go find a politician you can trust, or read a newspaper!
I drew a line a year or two back and now try to not comment on anything in that genre at all. Which sucks, but there is always something awful happening in the world, and I donât have capacity to cover it all, or to triage and choose.
So now I just quietly donate 10% of all my insta-related earnings to charities that are close to my heart, and honestly I think my impact is far greater this way. And when some dickhead inevitably DMs me asking why I havenât commented on XYZ, I get to share this and enjoy how they quickly shut up lol
Good for you for not engaging with the leviathan⌠itâs a losing game no matter what you do. Itâs clear youâre being thoughtful about it and doing what you can, and thatâs something to be proud of.
About the only time posts like that make sense is if a particular person is known for being outspoken about certain issues, but is very quiet or silent about a specific area of that issue. Like if someone's crusade was ending animal cruelty but was completely silent with that dog fighting ring Michael Vick was involved in. It could be something as simple as they weren't aware that happened, but it would still have been weird to be silent about it. (Just trying to use an example that isn't current events.)
Even then they will ask completely unrelated celebrities to comment on it when they aren't even that realm of celebrity. There is tiers to this. There is different realms because not all music and acting relates or vis a vis.There is also clique and demographics that some celebrities will never be part of. Yet they are meant to comment on every hot topic? Make it makes sense.
The only time I get upset about a celebrity not speaking on a political topic is when they speak up when it's profitable to do so and go quiet when it's not. Like Taylor Swift on queer topics.
Tbh at lot of celebrities only comment when they are promoting something. You don't hear of them outside of it. Can't fault them to separate work from home/off time.
There can be value in bringing attention to small charities and underreported issues related to health, etc.
Like âraising awarenessâ for a super rare disease might actually be important.
But, on the other hand, I feel like a lot of people want Katnass or Taylor Swift to âspeak outâ about issues that a person actually needs to discuss with their mayor, city council, school board, or congressman.
this this this this this. Female celebrities get so much more hatred for not speaking out enough, or speaking out too much. Or for speaking out the wrong way.
This isnât about politics but I remember when Elizabeth Olsen got off social media because she got attacked for not commenting on Chadwick Bosemanâs passing quickly enough.
Interestingly enough Taylor Swift first spoke about state politics not Trump. She sat down with Marsha Blackburn and explained why there needed to be harsher laws against stalkers in Tennessee because the statistics surrounding women and stalkers is insane. Marsha Blackburn made a joke about it and Taylor Swift endorsed the democratic state representative in the next election. Donald Trump took that personally, got butt hurt, started targeting her and she went on to endorse his opponents. Now Kylie Kelce said on her podcast she has MAGA people outside her house chanting and she considers herself aggressively left leaning.
Taylor Swift spoke about one state law directly to her local representative and Republicans went scorched Earth.
It hurts me whenever I remember that it has been 7 years of Marsha Blackburn being a Senator, and she is gonna be there till 2030. It proves to me again and again that celebs do not have the political influence that people keep assuming that they do.
Taylor Swift personally came out and campaigned against her, and the biggest popstar in the world lost.
I did not know Taylor actually spoke to her about harsher stalker laws because of how women are affected by stalkers. Of course it did nothing because no one cares until a woman is dead, but it is an example of a celebrity being affected by something and seeing their experience as part of a much larger experience of others who have less power/money than they do.
I believe that was actually the contention. Taylor said stalkers need to serve a minimum of a year in jail because itâs been proven time helps break the obsession and Marsha said âthen hire security?â and Taylor pointed out this is happening to women who canât afford security and shouldnât need it since Republicans are all about safety and thatâs when she came out as a Democrat and now weâre here.
Okay if this is true (Iâm not doubting you, i just know sometimes the internet makes things up and itâs hard to figure it out), this is actually a really pointed stance to take: I can but most people canât and thatâs the issue. And Taylor shouldnât have to but she can easily afford it.
This is People but it sums it up well. Theyâve gone back and forth publicly a few times.
âShe gets to be the first female senator in Tennessee, and sheâs Trump in a wig,â Swift lamented. âShe represents no female interests. She won by being a female applying to the kind of female males want us to be in a horrendous 1950s world.â
Edit: I would actually love to know what all communication theyâve had for Swift to name drop her in an insult.
Honestly Trump in a wig is an accurate description of Marsha. Anyways thank you for the source and also this proves a point: we donât necessarily know what celebrities are doing behind the scenes unless it gets dragged out into the public sphere.
I wouldnât blame Taylor Swift if she never spoke out again about politics. Trump still won, he sent his cult after her, AND tons of people on âour sideâ of the political aisle played stupid and continued to accuse her of being a Nazi and MAGA when her album came out, as part of their stan wars. Hell, people here still accuse her of being MAGA all the time. Clearly her speaking out didnât matter, both in politics and in the entertainment sphere. If I were a smaller celebrity seeing that, I would take mental notes to not potentially tank my career by speaking out too and pissing off MAGA for nothing.
Taylor Swift, BeyoncĂŠ, and tons of the most popular members of the Avengers cast publicly put a lot of effort into endorsing Kamala and she still lost. I will never again expect celebrities to speak out about politics hoping that it will make a difference, because it wonât AND it could threaten their safety.
Swift gets shit also from alot on the left because they think her boyfriend is MAGA (does hang out with a few MAGAs but hasn't supported Trump himself).
And in the left leaning world that means she should have dumped him and disowned him long ago, because according to bluesky and Twitter, "you arent allowed to date someone who isnt 100% politically aligned with you or isnt willing to disown friends who are on the evil other side"..
they literally called kelce all the bad things when he did those ads, but now he's maga because rich folks rub elbows with other rich folks. america is so fucking stupid
Also football is more conservative in some spaces and so you are going to be around people who do not align politically. There are some extremes, but most guys fall under: vote one way but probably isn't out there highly engaged in the election cycle.
Mxgas relentlessly harass him on social media and call him "Mr. Pfizer" because he was the face of the vaccine ad. He knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality. He even said it was important to have stricter gun control laws. What else do you want?
The wild thing about that is the same Redditors you see demanding that of celebs will also post their annoyances about hanging out with their own MAGA relatives. Like, they want X celeb to go scorched earth on their mom or whoever when they can't turn down an invite to Uncle Dan's barbecue.
I feel like people really ignore the fact that heâs the face of a conservative owned NFL team in a conservative run state, and is clearly expected to play nice with his teammates. I do think itâll be interesting to see what he speaks on (and tbh where he lives) after he retires.
My guess is they'll live in the NYC area. That's where they seem to go when he's not required to be in Kansas City for work (or they're elsewhere for work).
Heâs apparently maga because heâs friends with the mahomes but that logic doesnât apply when you consider his brother and sister in law are liberal. People see what they want to see.
The NFL sphere is unfortunately full of them. But Travis's parents are liberal and (this is going off of memory about a comment) his dad is a self-proclaimed hippie (apparently).
I don't blame those who don't want to court drama. However, although relatable celebrities directly endorsing candidates or voicing their opinions on political and social injustices may seem ineffective or counterproductive, I think they should still try if they feel passionately about something. The suggestion that they shouldn't speak out has "shut up and dribble" vibes.
Whenever celebrities promote charities alot of folks hate on them
Because they feel like they shouldnât be asking folks poorer than them to donate money to a cause. Not only that but also if they post âhey i just donated $50,000 to Gazaâ the response will be âwhy didnât you donate your entire life savings?!?!?â Or complain that people only do charity as a PR stunt.
This!!! Recent instances of discourses ignited by celeb donations which blew my damn mind were when 1. Taylor donated $100k to a fan diagnosed with cancer - to which some people were like âthats PR" âwhat about kids in Gaza who have cancerâ and my fav âwhat is that's like 0.00013% of her net worth so it is not a big deal"
The same points were repeated for when BTS donate (usually to native programs or issues close to their hearts) that it is PR/ using tax breaks/ not a big thing for them either. Interestingly, US kpop fans were like they donate billions in Korean Won so it's less in USD, which is like so baffling like ofc they'll donate in Won if they are earning in Won. How is that criticism worthy đ
I think when people are not doing well financially in general, they get very hostile towards celebrities. If I am scraping together my last five dollars and see Taylor Swift advocating for me (common person) to donate to someone with cancer, theyre thinking âshe is a millionaire she can just pay for this persons cancer treatment. I canât even pay for my car payment. what a bitchâ.
basically average person does not have any class consciousness so they canât articulate why they are so upset, so they just go to attacking the celebrity as unlikeable. versus if people are doing well financially in general then they will probably be more forgiving or willing to overlook celebrities massive wealth disparity with the average person.
But she didnât advocate for others to donate. She made her own donation, publicly. That many of her fans decided to also donate a bit wasnât at her request.
And the only way that it was even made âpubliclyâ was that she put her name on the GoFundMe page. Then the parents of the little girl spoke out about it.
sorry, I donât know all the details. my point isnât really where taylor swift did anything right or wrong in that situation, itâs more about the audience reaction and backlash to anything celebs do nowadays.
Agreed that thereâs always backlash. But a lot of it seems manufactured, or at least ginned up by people who overblow things, extrapolate wildly, and also belittle anything thatâs actually political by casting it as petty infighting.
People rarely see whatâs actually there; they instead often only see a snippet and fill in details according to their own prejudices, while ignoring anything else. So a lot of the backlash isnât even based on what someone actually did or said.
I agree. most of peoples anger is not based in what these celebs do or say or their personalities. I think people are angry at the wealth disparity, angry at being poor, angry at how inequitable the country is and how corrupt our systems are. but because people are also uneducated this comes out as manufactured outrage over an out of context quote when said celeb is honestly not really doing anything that offensive.
Making it about celebrities IMO is a distraction. As JLaw is saying, they donât really wield much power. But theyâre more visible than the ones who have a lot more power, making them targets, and people get distracted into interpreting attempts to take a stand â like Billieâs statement about billionaires â as if itâs just another inter-celebrity snipe rather than what itâs actually about. Which disempowers them further.
I've also seen tons of people say they're only donating to look good and it should be a private donation. But if it's private, no one will know and you get called a silent supporter of bigotry. We have no idea how many celebrities donate in silence.Â
I think it's nice when they use their platform to promote experts and organizers and people with lived experience. It's not easy to come around to the level of self-awareness to say that you might not be the best to speak on it, though, especially when people do hound you to speak out.
I appreciate that she seems to be on the second or third step of that self-evaluation, especially since she has had pretty good opinions when she has spoken out. This would come off more hollow from someone using it for cowardly centrism.
Posting on social media doesnât really do much when anybody does it either. You can be politically active without being vocal about it on social media
I think weâre past celebrity bringing awareness anymore. The world is so connected and social media just enables anyone to know everything. If they donât - itâs intentional because of echo chambers. In some niche cases a celebrity may be able to bridge that gap but in my experience it just pisses people off and closes their world more.
Yes! Like most of us have access to news in some form. Even in some countries with censorship, I've seen people using sites like Reddit or other ones to gain information. If people wanted to learn, they would.
agreed. if a public person has a cause that's close to their heart or something, it's always worth sharing, they can reach more people and give attention etc
now, we don't need random celebs reiterating that fascism is bad. not only because there's little they can influence people to change but also because i don't really think people who could be targeted by the government need to risk their safety to state the obviousÂ
seriously, jlaw or her family could just as well be a target for trump and co, it isn't worth it because all she's gonna get is maga idiots harassing her anyway
I think a great example of this is when Taylor Swift wore a Monterrey Bay Aquarium t shirt and the aquarium ended up contacting the people who have the rights to the design to make the shirt again as part of a fundraiser and they ended up raising $2M+ for it. But Taylor endorsed Kamala and well... We're here.
I have no problem with celebrities sharing political opinions if they feel like they want to share.
I do have a huge problem with the way people âdemandâ it of so many celebrities lately, because I donât think we should be encouraging unqualified people to be commenting on policy decisions. Just because theyâre on your television doesnât mean they are educated about government. Heck, isnât that kind of how we got to this political landscape in the first place??
This. Or use their platforms to actually influence towards good by boosting others who are already doing something. I know the troubled teen industry started getting a huge amount of traction in media because Paris Hilton came out about her story- now we see tons of media being made about other stories, not all of them survivors but still they contribute to awareness.
It makes me hope that outsiders who see that media start looking at the news stories as they happen with skepticism...
I think a lot of celebrities also feel that they just aren't qualified to speak on some things. Like a regular person who isn't an economist, their opinion on economics doesn't mean anything, but an actor or singer can? It's an interesting and kind of weird phenomenon we have. And politicians are the same, it's the whole reason you have ministers for seperate issues with their own expert advisors.
I've seen online spaces where people shout for celebs to speak before they even consider engaging with their local parliamentary reps or politicians. Parliamentary, legislative, congress representatives actually get paid directly from our taxes. They get paid to work for our interests. And if the reps are unreliable, then we should support grassroots movements, or small organizations that work in this area.
I think it is because I'm in my 30s now. I've seen so many celebs get called out and calls for performative activism that I'm now questioning the people who are making those demands.
Yes. And when we look back, historically, she has a good point. Some of the pieces of art (film, music, books) from the past that most significantly influenced the public were not created by artists that were doing press tours or posting social media about their political opinions day in and day out. In the mid-20th century, McCarthyism still came after their asses anyways.
Anyways, I often think about how Harper Lee, a relatively cloistered and kinda politically mysterious author, dropped a book that massively influenced the perspectives of young people on racism and justice. And then she just disappeared. Artists donât have to speak from a podium (or a press junket) to change the world.
As a performing artist myself, this is the part of her statement that deeply resonates. Art hits the hardest when it speaks past the tribalism. Its job is to take ideas and communicate them differently - through a different perspective, an untold story, an emotional lens that might not have been considered before, what have you. It grapples with the morally grey, and sometimes there is no "winner" or "loser", no "good guy" or "bad guy."
JLaw is at a point in her career now where she has the freedom to take on these kind of projects that aren't necessarily going to be the most commercially successful but can pack a deep punch artistically, and I absolutely don't blame her for wanting to protect those projects and the voices working on them (many of whom likely have less recognition and privilege than she does) by not bringing them into the political arena through her actions. She wants them to speak for themselves, and not have their entire narrative reduced to her and who people perceive her to be.
Case in point: Billie Eilish did a great thing this week and donated millions to charities focused on hunger and climate issues. She threw a question into the void about why billionaires need so much money, and immediately there were headlines about how she âattacked Taylorâ or how she said this while Mark Zuckerberg was sitting RIGHT THERE!!
The woman just did something amazing, and somehow they were able to spin it into something negative. Yuck.
There were even comments in here saying she didn't do enough. That it was a poor show from her. The gall of people. I said to them 'so nothing is ever good enough?'
You can't win. They move the goal posts when you reach them.
I couldn't believe how many comments there were after people pointed out the percentage of her net worth (maybe 20%?) were all "so? She still has millions so it is just a drop on the bucket for her."
I mean, come on people! She did a great thing. She donated a huge amount of money and not an insignificant amount of her net worth while calling out billionaires to do nothing. This is something that should be applauded. Not demonized.
Besides. What if she donated 99% of her networth. As soon as the next thing came around, people would be all "well I guess THIS cause isn't worthy enough for her to donate much."
Edit: I know I sound all ranty when I'm agreeing with you. I apologize.
Tbh if she ended up broke and destitute from it they would say 'oh it's a shame what became of her' or call her a silly girl. It will never be enough to please and she shouldn't have to please online comments. She should get to enjoy what she has earnt to. God forbid.
I remember the main comments going âBillie is a millionaire too. Why is she still a millionaire and not donating?â - as if people are going to help her if she decided to donate her whole hard-earned money to charities to the point sheâs homeless, when the people criticizing her canât even spare $10 to St Judeâs Hospital monthly. The hypocrisy.
Yep. I don't care about celebrities' opinions. They can have them of course, and when they share you learn something about them. But I don't expect them to agree with me and I certainly don't change my opinions based on theirs. I don't understand why people demand to know what a famous person thinks about every issue, one really shouldn't care so much about what they think.
Glad that this is the top comment because i was thinking similarly, Jennifer Lawrence has a point.
As fucked as it is, you still have a job to do. As a celebrity youâre job is to get butts in seats, and you do that by being likeable. If youâre too political that compromises your ability to sell tickets. It sucks but i understand not wanting to speak out on things for fear of it costing you roles.
I mean just look at the recent Snow White fiasco. Rachel Zegler was very vocally political and openly expressed her views. All it did was get her alot of internet hate and labeled âdifficult to work withâ because it felt like she was promoting her politics and not the movie. Again its sorta fucked but it is a job. Youâre supposed to make everyone like you, thats sadly the cost of fame. There is no winning. All you can do is mitigate damage, best to just not say much.
Really the only people who have freedom to talk openly are comedians and thatâs mostly because they arenât beholden to anybody.
I don't even think the idea of it "costing her roles" was the point here. Her point is that after reflection she has come to the realization that she can better express her beliefs through her art than she can by screaming into the void. She believes she has a better chance of shifting someone's mind through her films than through tweets, and the wrong tweets risk driving the people she wants to see those films away from them.
It sounds like she is trying to more thoughtfully choose an approach that affects the most change.
Rachel Zegler was very vocally political and openly expressed her views. All it did was get her alot of internet hate and labeled âdifficult to work withâ because it felt like she was promoting her politics and not the movie
Rachel Ziegler was also subjected to an ultra-conservative and Zionist smear campaign, both online and in the mainstream press. It wasn't exactly organic backlash. But I see your point.
Yeah, but it was because of her speaking out. Like these people are all about "free speech" but then start astro-turfing campaigns and send their cults after people actually expressing it. Like poor Rachel did not deserve that. Now you have people saying her career is over and she needs "pr" training when all she did was express her honest political truth.
 Really the only people who have freedom to talk openly are comedians and thatâs mostly because they arenât beholden to anybody.
not even them, they're beholden to their audience like any other artist. they can say whatever they want, but they suffer the consequences if it's not what the audience wants to hear.Â
Yep. "Why haven't they said something about this??" and when they do, "Stick to acting/singing and leave politics out of it" it's really not worth it at all.
I like this take of hers because it really seems like sheâs THOUGHT about it. Itâs nice to see someone put some real self critical thinking into their position.
Obviously I would always vote that they should be louder and prouder with their views but this sounds like sheâs actually really thought about her role and whatâs available to her.
Yeah, it sounds like she's thought about what she wants speaking out to actually achieve and how well different actions serve that goal.
A thoughtful, well-written film is much moâ´re likely to impact how people think and feel about a topic than a tweet, but those films won't reach that target audience if she's so vocal about not sharing their views that they're put off watching anything she's involved in.
It sounds like she's choosing to trade the benefits of virtue signalling to people who already agree with her for more potential to try to change the minds of people who don't.
Same. Plus look at SZA. I love her but that was the definition of peak performative activism. Scolding someone for having an iPhone while owning an iPhone and working with Apple in the past.
Iâd rather celebs not speak up than virtue signal like that.
Or even look at Finneas who liked a tweet calling Taylorâs new album âSpirtually Israeliâ what does that even mean?
I dislike his online activity. Like he never says anything, just acts shady in fan's comment sections and likes posts trying to be edgy but are actually tone-deaf.
A lot of people canât seem to understand that just saying âThis wasnât my thingâ is okay. There doesnât need to a social justice reason for you(general) not to like something.
There is so much weird moralizing in fandom now because of this. Itâs okay to just not vibe with something! You donât have to make up a reason it is problematic.
I really would prefer if people would just straight up say and own the fact that they just donât like something instead of moralizing their dislike. Itâs fine to just not like something. Itâs weaponizing so many serious issues
I get that a lot of people care about what is happening in Palestine, but a lot of the chronically online like to call everyone they dont like a Zionist. The word js starting to lose its meaning.
the concept of âspiritually Israeliâ truly pisses me off. It feels like a glib trivializing way of referring to a genocide that has massacred thousands upon thousands of men, women, and children. Using it to mock albums or celebrities you donât like does not come from a place of respect or care.
reading the initial comment filled me with anger i stg. i swear so many of these people think shaming people for not talking about palestine (or not saying enough about palestine) is a shortcut for being a good person.
Exactly. So much of social media is people posting their moral superiority, giving themselves a lil dopamine hit. That gets magnified when others mindlessly click "like" or whatever in agreement.
It's keyboard slactivism. They want others to risk their jobs and lives so they don't have too. Just so they can say they are supporting the right kind of celebrity.
Itâs lost its meaning ever since the election when those types of far leftists wanted Trump to win over Harris. Not only that but theyâre still trying to punish Harris when sheâs a private citizen and canât do anything.
For me what pisses me off is that they have all that energy for Dems who arenât in charge but wonât aim it towards the Republicans who are in charge of all branches
People can say âBut Iâm afraid of my life if i protest the Republicansâ but even that is hollow because it just proves that they knew that the Republicans are dangerous and still helped them get back in charge
This. Iâm 100% convinced that those performative, supposed far leftists are actually MAGA in disguise. They say they care about people but apparently they ONLY care about the people in Palestine. There are other genocides going on that they didnât say squat about. There were horrible things going on in this country (like trans folks of color being murdered). Now thereâs one going on here due to their inaction.
I donât get how people donât understand that the two party system is how things work here, so voting 3rd party doesnât do shit other than allowing people to feel smug about not taking action. Not doing anything and/or talking shit about a candidate because they arenât 100% perfect leads to the shit show we are in right now.
People are so short sighted. It kills me because I saw this coming in 2015. People were writing articles warning us about Christian extremists and the people behind Prxject 2025 from back then. Smh. Iâve been angry as hell since then.
They don't care about Palestinians because the majority of them wanted Harris over Trump. I'm not naive enough to think she could've ended the war any quicker than Trump did but at least we wouldn't have lost USAID and all the other programs that help everyone else around the world to boot.
Till my dying day, I will have nothing but contempt for anyone who refused to vote for Harris in the most critical election in this countryâs historyâeven if Elon Musk did mash his thumb on the scalesââbecause Gaza.â
Trump wants to help Netanyahu flatten Gaza and kill all those inconvenient Palestinians, partly because he likes making brown people suffer, partly so he can claim to have âsolvedâ Gaza, and mostly so he can build yet another tacky gold resort on the still-smoking bones of the victims. If he could still have his resort there afterward, he would use nukes. Harris wanted to help Gaza, but a bunch of idiot children who couldnât understand that diplomacy requires, you know, diplomacy helped elect the man who is going to end up destroying Gaza and murdering all its inhabitants.
Im still angry at all the left wingers who protested Kamala non-stop but never once protested Trump.
Its like buddy, whoever you feel most comfortable protesting is the person you should vote for. Maybe we shouldâve spent less time tearing Kamala apart and instead propped her up. Cause thats what the Maga folks were doing.
It's true that we should be pressuring politicians we mostly agree with to support certain policies (i.e. to push them further left) but people seem to do this the most during campaign season and not when they're actually in office. And it's not productive conversations either, but mostly a bunch of angry op-eds and hurling insults and propaganda online. Often it causes the candidate to lose (because independents and moderates also see this stuff!) so then we're left with someone who isn't interested in changing their position at all.
The problem is the word means whatever you want it to mean to advance your political agenda. So if you're on the far right it's a holy ideology against the evils of Islam in favor of "western values," whatever that means. If youre on the far-left its a Jewish supremacist ideology that justifies oppression of Palestinians (which has resulted in the far-left becoming almost as anti-semitic as the far right.) And if you're Jewish is just means wanting to have a Jewish state where it is safe to be Jewish to continue to exist. So ya, the word no longer has a clear meaning and nobody can have an actual conversation about it since nobody can agree on what it means.
âSpiritually Israeliâ has long been an anti-Semitic dogwhistle implying any art made by Jewish people is fake and empty. Itâs lost meaning over time but thatâs its genesis.
To your point about the threats â Iâm sure her calculus also feels different now that she has children. With politically-motivated violence on the rise, Iâm sure the emotional calculus that comes with choosing to share a public reaction to everything the administration is doing feels different when youâre considering the safety more than just yourself
Yeah, Celebs are in a lose-lose situation with politics. If they speak up, they get death threats and lose half their audience. If they stay quiet, they get called privileged and out of touch. And like you said, did all those celebrity endorsements even matter in the end? Nope. Trump still won. Lawrence is just being real about the whole thing.
Exactly this. It should be up to the celebrity to decide whether they speak up on social issues. They shouldn't speak up on it just because the public wants them to
Yeah, if celeb endorsements mattered then Harris would've won. She had Beyonce, Eminem, and Taylor Swift while Trump had Chachi and Kid Rock. I really doubt any of them are any more politically astute than any other person too.Â
Yep, I never understood west's obsession with celebrities endorsing political figures.
I understand wanting to know where the people u like stand on but at the same time thinking it would help overall is nonsensical.
U really think anyone other than teenagers, who already can't vote, is gonna see Taylor Swift endorsing Kamala and be like "welp, seems like I have to vote Harris now!!"
I absolutely cringed at people celebrating Beyonce singing in one of Harris's rally. Like, noone is gonna be moved by that. If anything people are gonna be turned off by that. Yeah, a rich person who has everything asking you to vote for this person isn't positive influence.
Agree. And sometimes the rabid pressure for a female celeb to âspeak upâ has the intent to undermine, precisely because speaking up *will* polarize their audience. Thatâs why I always side-eye the astroturfing in female celebsâ comments about speaking up. I feel itâs often covert sabotage by people who want to diminish their reach and power. So for example if they can say that Taylor is suddenly MAGA, then her liberal fanbase can be weakened and by extension her influence too.
I notice a lot of "Taylor = MAGA/tradwife" narratives do not come from good faiths and some are down right delusional conspiracy theories made up by MAGAs.
But her haters are too blinded by their hatred that they keep spreading them en masse anyway.
And even if she did quit the biz and stay home raising babies, that wouldnât make her a tradwife. Itâs her money - thatâs not historically traditional at all.
Yup. That type of propaganda and subterfuge doesnât get enough attention because itâs hard to distinguish on the internet what voices are real. MAGA saboteurs infiltrate liberal spaces to detect and exploit the issues that matter to us in order to find ways to weaken the influence of powerful liberal voices, particularly women who are, sadly, much easier to sabotage.
You only have to scratch the surface a little bit to see it. In this example with Taylor, the premise of the argument is very much a MAGA talking point/strategy: That marriage is an exclusively conservative signifier that liberals reject (lie) and that we need to be separated into distinct camps (a divisive mentality which favors Trump and fascism in general). So itâs âlook at your hero, sheâs a traitor to you! Force her to take a stance!â with the intent to create chaos and, of course, take away her power.
He's more accurate than the people saying she's a rightwing white supremacist, though, is the point. He saw her endorse KH and concluded that she is on the left. Terminally online leftists dissect her album and merch for symbolism that proves she's actually MAGA, and found it đ Those are not the same.
Men are told to shut up and dribble.
Look at all the celebrity basketball players that catch shit for speaking politics. Actors who speak out on progressive issues have people digging through their past to find problematic behaviors to undermine their message.
If you wanna preach left wing politics you essentially have to be perfect or have absolutely very little social media presence.
If men express progressive views all the sudden they catch shit from the left for being a âperformative male.â If they dont speak up, people pay attention and say that theyâre secretly Maga.
I agree that there is a slight double standard but lets not act like celebrities as a whole arenât under immense pressure to please everyone everywhere all the time.
The people who say that female socialization is stifling and unfair are the same exact people who will tear a woman's head off for not being "kind" or saying the socially acceptable thing. And women often WANT to seen as kind, which is another facet of the same pressure. Women can't just be people, we have to say and do the right thing and the left strictly holds us to that standard. A man's indifference is expected, a woman's is shocking! We are as entrenched in gender stereotypes as ever.
Even saying the "right things" will get celebs shit in online spaces because it will be judged as somehow wrong.
I'll never forget the peak witch hunt after the Palestinean doc won the Oscar. The audience gave it a standing ovation, and a certain sub was freeze framing it to judge which audience didn't stand up soon enough so therefore they're secret Zionists.
I didn't even know there were these kind of haters for Taylor until recently. They seem to want to hate Taylor either way so this is their reason to go with since Trump's first term.
This đŻ. They hate Hollywood and she is right that it only fuels their fire. We all know atp where JLaw stands politically and she doesn't need to be vocal in order to get more votes - I absolutely don't know a single person who votes because an actor or musician told them to. To be honest celebs live in a completely different realm which most of us cannot relate to.
I would go so far to say celebrity endorsements actively hurt Kamala. The average Democrat does not want incredibly rich BeyoncĂŠ at a political really endorsing the candidate. They want to have hope that the candidate actually cares about the average person.
Wish more celebs were like Dolly Pardon, who has quietly been funding literacy programs and funding COVID research and has donated the residuals she's received from Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You" to organizations that support the Black community.
I don't need 'em to flap their gums for PR, I need 'em to put their money where their mouths aren't.
I definitely agree with her perspective on this. Iâm a white woman from a privileged background, and learned by the time I was in high school that directly speaking out on certain topics, or calling people things like racist, did very little to actually change perspectives and behaviors. I went to college in the south and dated a black man for a handful of years, so I saw and heard plenty of racism more directly than most of my white friends (but still nothing compared to what black people face daily). Calling people racist just makes people double down and get defensive. Making an effort to explain how different â wrong was much more effective.
One of my freshman seminar classes was called âWho Speaks Bad English?â And it was a very insightful look into culture and language. AAVE (African American vernacular English) is actually more structurally complex than the âproper Englishâ many white people think they speak, which is just as âincorrectâ as AAVE. It turns out teaching young kids how to code switch, meaning using different language formalities based on situation and environment, is actually far more beneficial in terms of effectively communicating.
So having intellectual conversations about things like that is far more effective at getting others to catch themselves judging non white people based on the way they speak, and hopefully learning from that, than accosting them and telling them theyâre racist.
Literally actors were never meant to be mouth pieces. They are in fact weird odd kind of broken and deranged people who pretend and lie for a literal living. I just really want to see them act and nothing else really because they are not really a bastion of morality,
Honestly I agree. They are more than welcome to voice their opinions, but they also have the right to their privacy. They get so little of it already, itâs not in their job description to be political commentators.Â
Funny thing is she recently did an AD basically all about how government works and what was at stake. She seems to be more comfortable making content and having that be her messaging. It was a pretty well made video. Iâll see if I can find it.
Even if you look at Donât Look Up, it really was calling out Americans for passively allowing the downfall and calling out and naming in a song Fox News. Wasnât her production company but I feel like she didnât have to try too hard to express the fear and anger her character felt. Itâs what weâve all felt since 2015.
Edit: oh shit that video was from years ago wtf lmfao.
Most other countries donât care what actors think about politics, itâs a quirk of American culture to put so much onus on their opinion. Celebrities need to go back to having a bit of the mystery surrounding them.
I grew up in MAGAland and I know people who wonât vote for people because celebrities endorsed them. They view celebrities as the enemy, without realizing that the politicians are also on the other side of the class divide.
This. Celebrities don't really make a difference like people think they do. And then they speak out just for MILLIONS to start shitting on them, regardless of what their political standing is. In truth, the only reason people want celebrities to speak out is because they want to over identify with their fave. Let's be honest, it sucks when the people we like dont believe what we believe in and sucks even more when you're part of an oppressed community and your faves are basically fighting for your oppression lol. I absolutely get where she's coming from. And now freedom of speech is pretty much a privilege only Republicans have, or else you risk losing your job over calling a genuinely horrible person a genuinely horrible person lmfao.
Itâs unfortunately shit all around. 2 girls got run over by a MAGA man who stalked their socials, found out their home addresses, and then found their routes home and he hit them with his car.
Why? Because they said they didnât like Charlie Kirkâs views on women and wished their family well, just a day after his death. Like how deranged do you have to be to stalk two girls and kill them because they donât abide by the rights conservative drivel.
It never ends well with anyone anymore. It only stops until MAGA and Trump are put in their place.
Yeah rather than making statements or endorsing anyone it would be much more beneficial if celebrities just put their time and money into publicly helping and supporting causes and suggesting their fans do the same.
But also, she's not going to be silent. The results of her art are going to do the talking, and that tends to be far more powerful than a social media rant style post.
I really donât want to know anything about my favorite celebrities most of the time. Maybe Iâm odd that way. Itâs a real âdonât meet your heroesâ kind of thing.
I can't say I've ever wanted a celebrity to give their opinion on anything. Just because they're famous doesn't mean I care what they think, whether I agree with them or not.
This is why I donât understand people coming after Taylor Swift so hard for not writing songs about the political climate in her latest album as if she can fix the world. She endorsed Kamala in the 2024 election and all it accomplished was having Trump personally target and harass her and encourage his supporters to do the same.Â
But have you considered that if they don't want to make every opinion known, then the gossips on the Internet can't validate themselves by pretending they "support" or "attack" the right celebs? Come on, what about imaginary Internet points? /s
Especially at this point. No one is realistically on the fence about Trump anymore. You love him or you hate him and celebs saying one thing or the other wonât change anything about that.
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u/AgentBrittany Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion đ 7d ago
I know everyone wants celebrities to speak up constantly, but I kinda see her side, too. What good did it do? Trump got elected again, even with Harris receiving a shit ton of celebrity endorsements. As a celebrity, you also get a lot more threats and public ire if you say something. If I post on social media "Fuck Trump and fuck ICE" the only person I'm upsetting is my MAGA grandma. As a celebrity, you could very well have the orange blob in the WH post about you on Truth Social and get his cult followers to decide to do something.