Will stars stop endorsing Democrats?

I’m not the biggest Donald Trump fan, so I surprised myself by being pleased when he won the American election so conclusively. There was a serious reason for this. Though I’m thoroughly for abortion and against sex pests, it’s no good the Democrats pretending to be the party of women’s rights when they’re in favor of allowing cheating males into female sport and perverted men into female prisons. This isn’t feminism at all, but what I’ve dubbed “Frankenfeminism” which ends up making life both less fun and less safe for women — and that’s a rotten combo.

But there was also a frivolous reason why I felt pleased, and that was because it gave me a warm glow of pleasure to imagine the faces of all the super-smug celebrities who were convinced that by the grace of their glorious endorsements beaming down on Kamala, America would flock to vote for her. The reactions, when they came in, far succeeded my wildest expectations. I’ve always thought Alec Baldwin was crazy, but his statement that Hollywood (the denizens of which Ricky Gervais once nicely summed up with “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything — you know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.”) could play a role in informing the masses was a new level of cuckoo. And I’ve always thought Sharon Stone was smart, but her cracking case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (Americans are “ignorant,” “arrogant” and “uneducated”) might indicate that her much-touted IQ of 154 has perhaps taken a bit of a hit over the years.

When I was young I used to like film stars more when I found out they were left-wing. People who don’t know me will sneer “That’s because you got old and right wing!” but nothing could be further from the truth. As a teenager, I was a keen Zionist who believed in the death penalty, nationalization of all utilities and the abolition of private education; I was for equality of opportunity for all races and both sexes, for free speech and against blasphemy laws. Fifty years on, I’ve stayed true to all of these beliefs; it’s hardly my fault that the left has done a complete 180 and become a rag-bag of weirdos having the screaming ab-dabs on repeat. No, I think the reason I’ve changed my attitude to left-wing celebrities is that left-wing celebrities have changed. 

In the golden age of Hollywood, from the Thirties to the Fifties, film stars were of blue-collar stock; when they were left-wing, like Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall and Ava Gardner, their politics were still populist. They generally felt ashamed of their lack of education and guilty that their good looks had won them glittering lifestyles, and so they were disinclined to preach to the masses. When they endorsed candidates, they did it in a humble manner — think of Frank Sinatra fawning over JFK.

These days film stars tend to come from the upper-middle classes. Add to this a massive helping of nepotism (actors would once have been horrified by their children following them into the profession; now they do everything to encourage it) and this changes the social make-up of the show-business establishment completely. If you stood up as a liberal against the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s, you could be ruined. Now the Hollywood establishment is liberal, being left-wing is just another way of conforming and currying favor.

To be fair, right-wing film stars aren’t the most fresh and appetizing selection. Famous fans who celebrated with Trump at Mar-a-Lago included Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Dennis Quaid. But though the liberals are the more attractive, they can be lacking in what we might politely call inner beauty. I’ll forever treasure the report of Demi Moore saying to Tina Brown at the party to launch Talk magazine, as the crowds peered across the velvet ropes into the VIP enclosure, “Can you imagine how you and I look to those people over there?” We all know when we’re being looked down on; it’s wired into our survival mechanism, like food that’s bad for you often being blue. And this may explain why, when entertainers espouse a political cause — as they did with everything from Hillary Clinton to Joe Biden — mere “civilians” (to use Elizabeth Hurley’s word) turn against them.

Some of the disdain on the part of the paying public may be down to the increasing desire of stars to be seen as suffering grafters when we are fully aware that their lives are extremely soft and well-remunerated. Gwyneth Paltrow has not only famously claimed that being a film star is tougher than doing a “regular” job but also that reading nasty things about herself and her friends was “almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing.” Film stars in the past never complained. There’s heartbreaking footage of Marilyn Monroe during her marriage to Arthur Miller (an alleged Communist and confirmed rotter) leaving hospital after a late miscarriage of a much-wanted baby; how she smiles and waves, like she’s been surprised by paps leaving the hairdresser. Then think of Kristen Stewart saying that having her photo taken — in a public place, not even being spied on — was like being “raped.” People struggling to make a living are bound to feel nothing but contempt for such cry-babies.

It’s a phenomenon we might call being “Show-blind.” If you have a camera pointed at you for a lot of the time, mainly while you either fabricate or exaggerate your emotions, you may well come to believe that your feelings are more important than other people’s. (It’s not just film stars; we can see it in domestic divas from Lineker to Vorderman.) When less-photographed people — “civilians” — then don’t behave “correctly,” you may become very cross indeed. There were many disappointed Dems to chose from when it came to morning-after misery, but among my favorites were Rosie O’Donnell (“on the verge of pills”), Rachel Zegler (“May Trump voters never know peace”), Christina Applegate (“My child is sobbing”) and Cardi B (linked states with liability to suffer from hurricanes with voting Republican.) But my levity at this smorgasbord of show-blind sorrow was soon tempered by the dreadful revelation that the ghastly cry-bully Ellen Degeneres has done what so many of her fellow fools threatened to do — and moved to the UK.

It will be fun to see what happens when the dust settles. In a piece in The Spectator last week, William Cash wrote:

Variety splashed with the headline ‘Hollywood on Edge After Trump’s Devastating Victory.’ One actor was quoted bemoaning the ‘unimaginable cruelty that’s going to be unleashed on women, immigrants and the LGBTQ community’ Another said they had called LA pharmacies to ‘hoard birth control pills.’ Yet this fractious relationship is about to see a surprising plot twist. After years of virtue-signaling films — including a feminist Terminator and a female Muslim Marvel hero — Hollywood CEOs are quietly welcoming Trump: The Sequel. A shift away from liberal preaching has been under way for a while, and it has less to do with Trump and more to do with economics. The reason is that Hollywood has bankrupted itself. In May, famed investor Warren Buffet revealed that he had sold all his Paramount stock, losing as much as $1.5 billion. Walt Disney and Warner Bros have also been hit. Trump and Hollywood are both dysfunctional and needy, and so are perfectly suited to one another. The town may even thrive under the new president.

But I’m most interested in the absolute discrediting of celebrity endorsements this time around — and most curious to see what happens at the next US election. In 2028, will celebrities who offer their endorsements to the next Democratic candidate be told politely but firmly where to stick them?  

The Democratic campaign — and the way that the rich and famous swanked around during it — was so condescending, it made ordinary Americans feel that a man as rich as Trump understood them better. For me it was summed up best by having J-Lo pretend-cry over what a crime against regular people a Trump victory would be, when we’ve all seen the photo of her spitting her used gum into a regular person’s hand; do the Dems want to risk being promoted by people like that ever again?

Politics is often called “showbiz for ugly people” — but the ugliness of showbiz people came to the forefront in this election, and will not be quickly forgiven or forgotten by the “civilians.”