How entertainers are influencing the 2025 election:- I came home free. Don't call me to say we are free. And that is how VP Kamala Harris kicked off her first campaign ad to the music of superstar Beyoncé, who gave Harris permission to use her song "Freedom." Entertainers are playing a big role in this November's presidential election. Joining me now is Brian Shelter, Vanity Fair, a special correspondent and former CNN chief media correspondent. Brian, it's great to see you this morning. You too. So, Brian, I mean, celebrities often align themselves with certain candidates, right? And this time, you know, we have Gen Z's Charlie X, who affectionately called Kamala Harris a brat. How entertainers are influencing the 2025 election. blogsrabbi
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It's a compliment if you don't know what it means. It spawned viral memes. We also have on Donald Trump's side Hulk Hogan, who gave that enthusiastic intro to Trump at the RNC. I mean, young people are traditionally not known for being reliable voters, right? But it seems like they're really paying attention to this election cycle.
How crucial will it be to capture the Gen Z and the millennial vote? Right. I think it's one of the big changes in the past week. We've lived through a month of extraordinary change. And because of Kamala Harris and her ascension, a lot of that energy, among other people, has been unleashed. It's like a champagne bottle that was corked, and it's suddenly been popped open. And you're seeing that in a lot of the online reactions to the Harris news.
There's definitely a little bit of that on the Trump side, as you said, with some of those celebrity endorsements. But Democrats historically have an advantage or a big advantage when it comes to having Hollywood star power star wattage. And we're definitely seeing that this week, surrounding and centering around Harris. How much power is behind the star power then?
I mean, as you know, Brian, George Clooney inserted himself into the 2024 race. You know, he was first a major Democratic fundraiser for Biden, and then he penned that New York Times op-ed urging President Biden to step down, which surprised a lot of people. a lot of Democrats, are A-listers like Clooney having a bigger impact than we've seen in the past? I think maybe it's happening more visibly, right, because someone like Clooney was holding a fundraiser for Biden. It was a behind-the-scenes event.
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- You know, there were only a few video clips from it. But then for him to go out so publicly, it did start to change the dynamic.
- And I think people like Clooney actually can understand what's happening in politics from a unique vantage point. And I'll explain why I say that. And one of the other hats
- I wear is as a producer of a morning show called The Morning Show on Apple TV.
- And so I know the producers of a show like that, a drama sitcom; the worst thing you ever have to do is recast a character. Recast an actor.
- You never want to do it, but sometimes it's necessary. And you know what just happened in the Democratic Party? The ultimate example of recasting.
- You know, that's what happened, right? The producers, the funders, the donors, the voters, the activists—they didn't believe Biden could do it. So they recast him.
- They came up with Kamala Harris. And, you know, I had that analogy shared with me by a Hollywood producer because they said to me, you know, this makes sense.
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We do this all the time. And so there's sort of an interesting parallel between what happens in the West Coast, in Hollywood, and what happens in politics; at least this summer, perhaps, you know, the politicians need to learn how to pivot quickly, like Hollywood knows how to do with recasting Jennifer Aniston as another Hollywood celebrity who doesn't often get involved in politics. She obviously magnified Republican JD Vance's comments from 2021, where he was insulting childless people.
Let's listen to that comment that's gotten a lot of play lately. Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I've got nothing against Katz. The substance of what I said. Meghan. I'm sorry. It's true. It is true that we become anti-family. It is true that the left has become anti-child. I mean, so JD Vance is now on the defensive. I mean, and Aniston posted to her 44 million Instagram followers that she hoped Vance didn't have a daughter who would be unable to conceive. She's been open about her IVF journey.
She also appeals a lot to, you know, the Gen Z and the millennial crowd and the Gen Xers, who are siding with her on social media. Do you think the Trump fans campaign will now have to, I don't know, summon its Gen X celebrity supporters to counter the bad press? Or how are they going to fight this one? It would be tough. You know, Vance is on that kind of damage control tour, and he's saying that, you know, here's the thing about Vance, right? A great majority of Americans would support pro-family policies, but that's not what Vance was talking about on Tucker Carlson. Tonight, three years ago. And the problem for Vance is he went on that show a bunch of times.
How entertainers are influencing the 2025 election
Yeah. JD Vance loved to go on Tucker Carlson's show and say provocative things in order to get booked again and get millions of viewers. So this is going to be a recurring problem for Vance and thus for the Trump campaign.
And the Trump campaign just does not have as many levers to pull when we talk about this cultural power, right? These celebrity endorsements. They have some, but they don't have nearly as many. When you see stars like Jennifer Aniston or, yesterday, Cardi B calling Trump a dictator on Twitter, that sort of thing is going to keep happening every day. And I think it matters for the following reason.
It becomes an entry point or a touchpoint for people who might not care as much about politics, who might not be paying attention every day. But when they see someone they trust, a big Hollywood celebrity, talking about it, it becomes an entry point for them into politics for the first time. We have to go to a quick answer to this, please. Beyoncé.
Let's talk about major superstars like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. Perhaps an endorsement from them. Beyoncé? Yes, she endorsed Hillary Clinton, wanting to have her daughter see a woman president. Taylor Swift, I think. No, Taylor Swift doesn't need to. All she needs to say is Go out there and vote, and her fans will. And frankly,
Taylor's fans are already energized for Harris. They're already out there promoting her. That's another way this everything's changed in the past week now that all this energy has been uncorked. Brian Stelter, good to have you. Thanks.
