WELCOME TO THE BIG TOP
Imagine going to the circus. The clown car enters the ring… and a clown hops out, grabs a microphone, and launches into a breathlessly sanctimonious lecture about the need for gun control.
Is THIS what you came for? NO.
But every day now we get effectively the same thing from movie stars, TV celebrities, late night hosts, rappers, and now even football players.
THEY HAVE A RIGHT YA KNOW
Now I KNOW they have a platform that enables them to share their opinions, and they certainly have a first amendment to right to say what they want without regard to whether I find it noteworthy or even offensive.
The only possible exception is the football players using their employers’ gametime to make a political statement… which is imminently questionable if their employer objects to them doing so, just as the greeter at Wal-Mart might get fired for standing at the front door in his company smock insulting people as they enter… but that’s another subject.
They ALL have the right to voice an opinion.
MY QUESTION
Why the hell should we listen?
Do Hollywood characters have some special insight about political matters I don’t? A ton of them are at best high school grads, and their only claim to fame is reading lines someone else wrote and pretending to be someone they are not. Did becoming a famous TV doctor or movie action star make their opinion of what I should think valid?
Do rappers who became famous uttering lyrics about murdering cops or abusing women really deserve to lecture me about social justice or misogyny? Not sure they are the right guy for the job.
[To be fair, they aren’t the right guy to sing, either. “Untalented” does that begin to describe that noise.]
BOTTOM LINE: IT ISNT ENTERTAINING
If you are in the entertainment business, then entertain. HALF the country may agree with you, but the other half doesn’t, and unless you just enjoy driving your brand into the dirt, stick to what you know.
It isn’t politics.
It apparently isn’t business, either.
You need not believe me… a glimpse of box office proceeds and NFL revenues should tell you straying into 1-sided political discourse when it isn’t your real job is a poor business model.
There is pretty much nothing less enlightening than a self-aggrandizing lecture from some overpaid under-educated Hollywood twit. So thanks for thinking of us… but shut up and act. You aren’t paid because you’re smart, you’re paid because you play someone who is.
Learn the difference.
Rob Jones for President 
Now there’s a take I hadn’t thought of before. An employer has a right to impose certain rules about voicing our opinions to his or her customers while on company time on company property. Team owners and studio execs have the same right. Thanks Rob for pointing that out. Let’s see if any of them have the backbone to do it.
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