Hollywood and Politics: Is it really a good mix?

This week’s post is yet another commentary on a couple blogs. Due to the recent Hollywood extravaganza event, the Oscars, I was reminded not only about the anticipation of the winners and who wore what, but also the random political statements made on the red carpet or during acceptance speeches. In the past several years some celebrities felt strongly about expressing their political views during an event like the Oscars and some were more conservative and subtle about it. Previous Oscar winner, director Michael Moore, pictured left, charged President Bush “with wagging a fictitious war” during his acceptance speech in 2003. I came across the Democratic Daily blog that gave out of the ordinary celebrity quotes on politics and political issues, which was fun to read, and another blog called Hollywood’s Glitterati Line up for Obama which addressed the political campaign strategies of him and Hilary Clinton.

First post comment:
This post was interesting to read and I would have to agree with you on the fact that celebrities do have a platform and because of the First Amendment, can say whatever they wish. I also agree that many have nonsense to say, when they do comment on anything about politics. I couldn’t believe Matt Damon, pictured right, said that “people join the military for financial reason.” Hearing celebrity quotes like these makes them appear less credible and sometimes under educated. I would have to disagree with you though about McClure’s comment on John Kerry. It was clear the Kerry was poking fun at US soldiers and not President Bush. I read and heard that his intentions were to make a joke about it, but the delivery came out the wrong way. Overall, I think it would be safer for some, if not all celebrities to keep their political comments to themselves. They are there to entertain not campaign.

Second post comment:
After reading this post, I had no idea this many celebrities were passionate or had that much of an interest in politics. It does come to my attention, however, if these certain celebrities you mentioned such as George Clooney, Ben Affleck and Sharon Stone just to name a few, are active in political fundraising parties for politics or for just publicity. Besides that issue, I question the idea if it is safe for candidates to include celebrities in their campaigns. I understand if they are in need of the campaign money, but in terms of becoming a spokesperson or becoming very vocal for their campaign is another story. I feel as though the general public could care less about their political viewpoints and would rather see them busy doing what celebrities normally do (i.e. make movies, donate to charities, etc). I did find it fascinating to read how well Mr. Obama, pictured bottom left campaigning, is doing in the Hollywood social scene and how many supporters he’s racking up. You also mentioned how Hilary , pictured on top left, is still a favorite among Californian’s. I think it would be interesting to see who ends up on top regarding their celebrity support.