Los Angeles:
A slew of celebrities, from Taylor Swift and Beyonce to George Clooney and Harrison Ford, proved unable to prevent Kamala Harris’ crushing defeat in the US elections, underscoring the limited impact of major endorsements on voters.
Instead, it was Donald Trump and the Republicans — who received little support from the entertainment industry at large but tapped into a targeted subset of well-known, hyper-masculine influencers — who won comfortably.
Did Democrats’ longstanding connections to Hollywood and the music industry, including last-minute rally appearances by Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez, ultimately make any difference?
“Not in this election, clearly,” said Laurence Maslon, an art professor at New York University.
“Eventually people probably realize that Beyonce and George Clooney don’t have to worry about the cost of petrol or eggs – so maybe they are a bit irrelevant,” he told AFP.
Celebrity endorsements have long been a part of American elections, dating back to when Frank Sinatra riled up the “Rat Pack” to support John F. Kennedy in 1960.
Even this year, Hollywood-led fundraising efforts helped raise tens of millions of dollars for Harris’ record-breaking war chest.
But their impact in actually influencing votes has always been a “mixed bag,” says Margaretha Bentley, an associate professor at Arizona State University who teaches a public policy course on Taylor Swift.
“It’s never going to be the golden ticket that everyone is looking for,” she said.
Mark Harvey, author of “Celebrity Influence: Politics, Persuasion, and Issue-Based Advocacy,” agreed that we “shouldn’t be terribly surprised” by celebrities’ lack of impact.
“There’s no really strong science behind this idea that celebrities can influence people to vote for candidates,” he said.
– ‘Macho’ –
Celebrity supporters have only been effective in advocating for very specific issues on which they are widely considered experts, Harvey said.
As Donald Trump delivered his victory speech early Wednesday, the new president-elect was flanked by — and praised — famous names from the sports world.
UFC boss Dana White was lovingly praised as ‘tough’ and ‘a piece of work’, while golfer Bryson DeChambeau was celebrated as ‘fantastic’ and even had a ‘slightly longer’ drive than the golf-loving Trump.
Loud cheers — and a significant portion of Trump’s speech — were dedicated to his best-known supporter of all, technology billionaire Elon Musk.
Trump also received a last-minute message of support from Joe Rogan, the influential host of one of the best podcasts in the world.
Republicans may have benefited from these associations because in elections “driven largely by cultural issues, masculinity was one of the most powerful cultural issues,” Harvey said.
“This kind of ‘be a real man,’ Trump ‘macho’ kind of thing… it’s the kind of thing that Joe Rogan plays all the time.”
– ‘Shocked’ –
For Democrats, this latest painful experience will require a “deep self-analysis… of what they did and didn’t do, and what could have been successful,” including celebrity endorsements, Bentley said.
Ashley Spillane, author of the report “Celebrities Strengthening Our Culture of Democracy,” agreed that there was “debate” about the “value and impact of celebrity endorsements of candidates.”
But there is still “solid evidence that celebrities have a real impact in promoting overall, nonpartisan civic engagement,” she wrote via email, pointing to Swift’s endorsement of Harris, which would have driven 400,000 people to a voter registration site.
Even if their endorsements failed, Hollywood celebrities showed no indication Wednesday that they would remain silent.
Waking up to the news of Trump’s victory, several public figures took to social media to express their frustrations.
Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis said Trump’s victory would “herald a certain return to a more restrictive, for some frightening, draconian times.”
“Fascist with total power… That may have been the last free election,” wrote actor John Cusack. “The horror is coming.”
Pop singer Cardi B, who appeared at a Harris rally last Friday, simply wrote, “I hate you all a lot.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)