By Kenzie Smith, Arts and Entertainment Editor
Politics have been on the mainstream this year due to the much heated presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and these politics have not been absent in the sphere of Hollywood. There have been a number of celebrities that have come forward to endorse one candidate or another, or to even speak about why they chose to not endorse either.
Rising pop icon Chappell Roan faced criticism when she abstained from endorsing a presidential candidate and stated in an interview with The Guardian, “There are so many things that I would want to change. So I don’t feel pressured to endorse someone. There’s problems on both sides.”
After receiving a large amount of criticism, Roan went to TikTok to defend her view, stating, “Endorsing and voting are completely different” and “[t]here’s no way I can stand behind some of the left’s completely transphobic and completely genocidal views.” Roan went on to say that although she was voting for Harris she was “not settling for what has been offered.”
While Roan refused to endorse a candidate and instead encouraged voters to use their own critical thinking skills, some other celebrities have been putting much more effort into endorsing such as Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day, who on the day before the election encourage all voters, even those in California, to “get out and vote for blue just because we need numbers.”
Green Day, as a whole, changed the lyrics of their song “American Idiot” from “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” to “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda” in January of this year, showing their opposition to Trump. The band also made history during their “Saviors Tour,” which registered over 7,900 new voters and engaged over 61,000, breaking a HeadCount record for most voters engaged for a single tour. HeadCount is a nonpartisan organization that works to register young voters by meeting them “where they already are,” such as at festivals, concerts and community events.
Executive director of HeadCount Lucille Wenegieme spoke on why HeadCount can achieve such numbers: “Our model works because musicians and celebrities have a cultural cache and an intimate connection with their fans, especially among young people, whose identity as a fan of a particular artist can be even stronger than other aspects of their identity, including affiliation with a political party or candidate.”
Celebrities also show their endorsement of a candidate outside of partnerships, such as through interviews, social media, and other platforms. This year, Sexyy Red shifted her support from Trump to Harris, making a post on X on Nov. 1, stating, “I just voted!!! Don’t tell us what to do with our c****ies!! #Kamala4President.”
Trump still had multiple celebrities weigh their support his way, such as Elon Musk, who Trump plans to appoint as lead of his new “Department of Government Efficiency.” Kid Rock and Azealia Banks also endorsed Trump.
When speaking on her endorsement of Trump in an interview with the Evening Standard, Banks stated, “He’s just f***ing funny. He’s been through how many bankruptcies? How many wives? How many television shows? Seriously, nothing can take him down.”
Despite celebrities’ impact on voter registration, Hamline University political science professor David Schultz said in a CBS news article that overwhelmingly celebrity endorsements do not make a large impact in the election of a candidate. There can be exceptions to this rule, though, such as Oprah Winfrey most likely helping Barack Obama win the 2008 Democratic primary over Hillary Clinton or in very close elections celebrities such as Taylor Swift convincing a more indifferent populus to cast a vote.
Overall, celebrity endorsements are not changing election results, so perhaps there was some merit when Chappell Roan encouraged voters to use their own critical thinking skills when looking at political candidates instead of pressuring celebrities to make an endorsement.
This article originally appeared on page 16 of the No. 1 December 2024 edition of The Gettysburgian magazine.
