In the age of social media, personal and political views can often collide, and celebrities find themselves sharing their political values. Celebrities can have such a huge influence, a lot having young, easily influenced fans that follow their every move, it is important that they are aware of how influential they can be and act accordingly.
With their vast reach, they have a unique platform in which they can bring attention to issues that matter deeply to them. Take for example, Taylor Swift, currently one of the most influential and successful women on the planet, took matters into her own hands in 2018. She broke her long-standing political silence by endorsing Democratic candidates in Tennessee, encouraging her fans and pushing a much younger demographic to register to vote. This move was pretty much equally praised and criticised, however, no one can doubt how impactful it was, in the month of August leading up to Swift’s posting about the election only 56,669 people registered to vote via Vote.org, whereas in the 48 hours following Swift’s post, 169,000 new voters were registered. This also created a lot of animosity towards Taylor Swift, due to her previous country music background, it was often assumed that she was a republican, as the majority of Southern American country music fans are, this lead to a significant change in Swift’s demographic, showing that perhaps her declaration of opinion was not for her own personal gain, but for what she believed to be the greater good. This impact is undeniable, and in a situation like this, registering to vote can only be a positive move forward for the young people of this generation. However, voting is so crucial to the functioning of society, and if celebrities can have this huge an impact on who people are voting for, is this truly a democracy? Or are we still being ruled over by the most successful of people?
It is not just Swift, Kim Kardashian, a reality TV star turned law student, has leveraged her fame to advocate for criminal justice reform in recent years. Meeting with politicians, like former US President Donald Trump, she advocated for the release of non-violent offenders, something which takes celebrity opinion to a new level, in a way that she could even shape policy, and she is continuing to do so successfully! Despite how well this can go for certain celebrities, the intertwining of celebrity and politics is not without its challenges. It is possible that celebrities can oversimplify very complex issues, or that they do not have the expertise to fully grasp the nuances of political matters. This is reducing what could be a significant polarisation of opinions in society, to a simple war between fans of different pop culture icons, which reduces politics to nothing and leads to people making misinformed decisions about things that are crucial within society, such as voting and protests.
In current times, celebrities have on mass been sharing their opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, aligning themselves with a specific cause. Pro-Palestine celebrities include Bella Hadid, Lorde and many more, whereas pro-Israel celebrities include actresses Gal Gadot and Mayim Bialik. It is extremely important that celebrities cannot influence conflicts such as this, with such a high death toll, and with so many fatalities and people impacted. Creating this us vs them narrative can become extremely damaging, however, I see why these people see it necessary. The tragedies facing the innocent civilians in this conflict need highlighting in Western societies, and it is completely understandable why they feel it is vital to share this injustice with this huge platform that they possess. However, I think it is important to take responsibility, and to make sure that their audience is fully informed of all sides, and cannot simply follow in the footsteps of entertainers that they enjoy.
Ultimately, it still remains contentious whether celebrities are morally obliged to comment on political issues. In issues such as encouraging people to vote, encouraging prison reform and encouraging a positive involvement in cultural and political issues, I see that celebrity commentary can have such a positive impact. It is crucial that celebrities utilise their platform and avoid simplifying political issues into popularity contests. As long as celebrities take responsibility for their actions, and aim to educate and inform, not just sway, I see that, if used in the correct way, political involvement from celebrities can increase the visibility on prevalent issues.
