Josie Andrews Supplemental Blog Post #7 Celebrity Politicians

 Josie Andrews Supplemental Blog Post #7: Celebrity Politicians

This past week, I have been following the New York governor’s race since Cuomo supporter and former City Council speaker Christine Quinn denounced Cynthia Nixon’s (Sex in the City) decision to run for governor, telling the national press that Nixon is “an unqualified lesbian” who wants to the governor of New York. Nixon quipped in response: “When I announced yesterday that I’m running for gov, one of Cuomo’s top surrogates dismissed me as an ‘unqualified lesbian.’ It’s true that I never received my certificate from the Department of Lesbian Affairs, though in my defense there’s a lot of paperwork required.” Putting aside the stupidity of this comment, this made me think about celebrity politicians (our current President included), who use their celebrity status to speak as a surrogate of “popular opinion” on various public causes and groups.

We have seen celebrity politicking in everything from the Vietnam War to gun control to police brutality to sex trafficking to the recent “me too” campaign. Every presidential national convention prominently features celebrities on both sides of the aisle. Celebrities often link their image and popularity to a certain politician. For example, Oprah Winfrey gave a relatively unknown Senator—Barack Obama—a platform to meaningfully raise money and become president. Winfrey is one of the most influential women in the world and her endorsement of Obama in 2006 before he even announced his candidacy was a critical component of his election. Not surprisingly, there are a number of studies addressing what Winfrey’s endorsement meant for Obama—with many claiming that Winfrey brought at least one million votes to Obama in the primary and, without Winfrey, Obama would have lost the primary.  Jane Fonda, Ashton Kutcher and many other celebrities often testify before Congress and are known political activists. Others hold benefit concerts to support causes, like the victims of shootings or AIDS. 

Other politicians actually try to capitalize on the marketing techniques of celebrities to garner public favor—Bill Clinton played his saxophone on the Arsenio Hall Show. Michelle Obama did carpool karaoke and danced with the iCarly kids. Hillary Clinton and many other celebrities have appeared on Saturday Night Live and many talk shows.  And, perhaps most significantly, celebrities like Cynthia Nixon have used their status and popularity to successfully run for office themselves—Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood, Sonny Bono, Clint Eastwood, and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator) and even Donald Trump come immediately to mind. And, Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson are both being encouraged to throw their hats in the next presidential race.

 

Why do we give political legitimacy and credibility to celebrities who have no governmental experience or often basic governmental affairs knowledge or skills? My two cents arm chair political analysis is that—despite their wealth and surreal existence compared to virtually all Americans—celebrities are often seen as people just like us. This makes them more authentic than politicians who are riddled with scandal or constantly demonized by the press and public with scandals of a few coloring public perception and trust in our elected officials.  Celebrities appeal to our ideals of government being truly “representative” and an outsider. They appear to be more in touch with popular public opinion--a link between performer and audience which we have discussed in class is part of the appeal of fandom. And, they have instant access to millions of people through social media.

Believing that what has been the “norm” is not working, we embrace those who are not seen as part of the insider “DC beltway” or “political world” mentality. Of course, the problem with electing celebrity individuals—as we can see with Donald Trump—is that they are only “symbolic” popular cultural representatives of Americans. In other words, they are more often simply consummate performers, who can easily convince us that—despite their money and star status—they are like those of us who believe they have been forgotten by traditional government. The result is that we end up with a “reality TV” star in the White House, conducting affairs for the benefit of the tweeter world.

While I do believe there are some really bright celebrities who have been or could be excellent governmental representatives (thinking of Tom Hanks, in particular), I am not convinced that their celebrity status necessarily provides a legitimate basis for representation.  Instead, I think we need to be more critical in determining who is and is not appropriately representative of our governmental goals and needs.