Here’s Why Celebrities Should Fall Back From Doing Too Much During the 2016 Election
Outside of her portrayal of Reggie Love in The Client, I can’t find much intel about the legal experience of celebrated actress and activist Susan Sarandon. Did she go to law school with Phaedra Parks and didn’t share the news with the rest of the world? Does she have a connect in the Federal Bureau of Investigations? Seems neither is the case.
So, while I find it fascinating that she predicted Hillary Clinton will be indicted before officially becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, it really forced me to consider how celebrities have played a role in the made for reality TV presidential election of 2016. Welp, given the historic events of last night (June 7) when Hillary Clinton became the first woman to represent a major party in a presidential race, it looks like Susan is hardly the legal eagle she pretended to be by floating that bold opinion out there. An opinion that is not only uninformed, but one in direct conflict with the opinion of legal analysts, journalists who have researched Clinton’s case, and even one of those super duper delegates who always hear about who supports Bernie Sanders, whom Sarandon ardently supports.
Yet, in a recent interview with MSNBC, Sarandon said, “Nobody’s even talking about this indictment. What happens with that, besides the trust issue of catching her in so many lies?” When Jansing informed her that there has been no indictment, Sarandon said, “No, but there’s going to be. I mean, it’s inevitable."
Inevitable to whom, beloved?
Sarandon has every right to her opinion, but when it comes to where she expresses that opinion, it would be best for all parties involved if she weren’t given room to share that opinion on certain platforms. Say, a national cable news network like MSNBC. There’s only one reason and one reason only why Susan Sarandon, not esquire, was given the opportunity to share her baseless and biased legal opinion on a news station: she’s a celebrity.
If there’s anything this election ought to teach us, it’s that we collectively have awarded famous folks far too much credibility for no other virtue than name recognition. It’s why the political musings of the hitless version of Foxy Brown known as Azealia Banks became relevant information in our news cycle. I read Banks’ poorly rationalized explanation for her support of Donald Trump on the Twitter, but I found it curious that so many media outlets found her political ideology worth covering.
To be fair, there are some celebrities who are very much the proud owners of informed political opinions. Some examples include Kerry Washington, John Legend, Jesse Williams, George Clooney, Matt McGorry, among others. In no way am I suggesting that celebrities totally stay in their respective lanes of entertainment. That would be an insult to the contributions of stars like Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis and Eartha Kitt.
But, but, but: someone saying something at a louder volume does not automatically make it worth hearing or more important. We need to quit elevating and catering to the stars -- especially if they don’t know what in the hell they’re talking about. There are consequences of continuing such bad habits in the political arena. It can trivialize an important process and make it more about entertainment value than the substance of issues that have a lasting impact on our country. The entertainment value that Donald Trump has brought to this election has practically punched his ticket to the Republican nominee. The media fell in love with the storyline of the temperamental businessman being the underdog in the race and they mostly ignored drilling down on his position related to actual policies that impact millions of Americans.
After all, in the year of our Lemonade, a real estate mogul with questionable business practices who hosted a glorified TV game show has legitimate chance at soon having access to our nation's nuclear launch codes. Someone who literally knows very little about the job he’s seeking is now this close to securing it in November. Have we learned nothing?
For the love of all that is good and just, stop giving the stars so much.
We had liberals blind-taste test some of Trump's best wine. The results will surprise you.