Actor Robert DeNiro’s rant outside the Donald Trump trial is yet another example of why no one should pay an ounce of attention to celebrities when it comes to political matters; much of what DeNiro had to say was not based in reality.
Mind you, I am not taking up for Trump, I did the same face plant when actor Jon Voight called for President Biden’s impeachment because the president had “wronged the nation’s glory.”
What? Is that a high crime or misdemeanor now?
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In my opinion, celebrities have a vote like everyone else, but when they use their platforms to make foolish observations, it is mostly nauseating to watch.
Normally, I do not address national issues or political races in this space, but the “celebrity effect” has made its way to Georgia with a slew of celebrities in 2020 pushing for the election of Stacey Abrams as governor. I did the research and found that only one of those celebrities, some rapper named Ludacris, was actually from Georgia.
I loved Vincent D’Onofrio in “Full Metal Jacket” and “Men in Black,” but I was far more interested in finding out where Abrams’ stands on the issues, than what any one esteemed actor thought about her or Georgia politics.
Elvis Presley probably said it best when asked by a reporter about a political issue while on tour: “Honey, I’d just as soon to keep my personal views about that to myself. I’m just an entertainer, I’d rather not say anything about that.”
It was reported that politicians from both sides of the aisle asked Freddie Mercury to be allowed to feature his Queen song “Don’t Stop Me Now” at campaign events and he always refused. I find that particular request to be quite funny, because obviously the campaign staff did not read all of the lyrics of the song.
Celebrity worship and influence has a long history in America going back to the Colonial era. The difference between then and today is that Benjamin Franklin was adored internationally for his inventions, writings and philanthropy, not for his ability to pretend to be someone else on stage.
Prior to the 20th Century, actors were not seen as any kind of role model or “influencer,” and John Wilkes Booth even lowered the already low public opinion of actors when he assassinated President Lincoln.
Even people who reach celebrity status through their feats of daring can be hopelessly duped.
According to military historian Hubert van Tuyll, when Charles Lindbergh toured Germany after his death-defying solo flight across the Atlantic, Hitler happily showed off the Luftwaffe, impressing Lindbergh who came back to America claiming the Nazi’s had the world’s largest and most impressive air force.
Lindbergh wanted to fly to each of the airports to save time, but Hermann Göring convinced him to go by car so that he could see “the beautiful countryside of Deutschland.”
What Lindbergh did not know was that the Nazis waited until his car was out of sight and then flew the same planes he had just seen to the next airport and parked them at the end of the tarmac so that he couldn’t see the heat rising from the engine bays or notice that the tail numbers were identical.
When he returned to America, Lindbergh went on a speaking tour urging isolationism. If President Roosevelt and the public listened to Lindbergh, all of Europe today would likely be speaking in German and trading in Reichsmarks.
In the “Golden Age” of Hollywood, stars almost never allowed themselves to be seen on television and did not engage in political influence. The reason for that was not the Red Scare and blacklisting so much as that the studios wanted audiences to be immersed in the movies they watched and so the stars had to have an aura of mystery.
In the modern Hollywood world, in order to keep up their jet-setting lifestyles, celebrities have to constantly promote themselves even when they do not have a project in the offering.
Leonardo DiCaprio makes millions of dollars per year just by agreeing to attend parties; he is keenly aware that if his name falls out of the tabloids, the party invitations fall off as well. So, he keeps that public profile up by standing in front of his Lear jet and preaching about carbon footprints and climate change, something he clearly knows nothing about.
I have been on plenty of film sets over the years and met plenty of celebrities and I can attest that most of them are shallow individuals who live in a bubble.
Jane Fonda once visited the set of her husband Ted Turner’s film “Andersonville;” she arrived on the muddy outdoor set perfectly coiffed, wearing white from head to toe. Carpet (red, naturally) had to be rolled out for her and she had one assistant holding an umbrella to shield her from the sun and another toting a bag with her bottled water.
Fonda had a bodyguard with her on a closed set out in the middle of the Georgia wilderness.
At one point I saw her stamp her $3,000 white Prada pumps and demand a cocktail and one seemed to magically appear.
I suppose she had the same experience visiting Hanoi.
The only down-to-Earth celebrities I’ve met were Dennis Hopper and Carol O’Connor. I talked to both Dennis and Carol on set quite often and got to be friendly with both; but, I never once asked either of them about their political views and they never shared them with me.
Ironically, despite his “Easy Rider” fame, Dennis was an archconservative and Carol, who played Archie Bunker, was an avowed liberal.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
