Why can't actors just keep their mouths shut in these cases?

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What I mean is, is that I keep hearing stories, about when actors go on social media, or even a talk show, and they would share their politics or their demons or flaws about themselves and it gets them into trouble often.

Like how Liam Neeson made some comments on an interview recently, and now people are calling for a boycott of the movie he starred in that he was promoting and his career is now effected by it.

Or how Daisy Ridley got a dislike after posting her views on gun control.

Or lately, Adam Driver is under fire now, because he is now being called Islamophobic, because he joined the military after the 9/11 attacks, after he recently divulged that he did, in an interview, etc.

What I want to know, is why do actors voice controversial views, when they have a fanbase to keep. Is it because actors have to be talking about politics on social media in order to get more roles?

Or if they don't, why don't they just keep their mouths shut about their views. Wouldn't that be the smartest thing to do?

Some celebrities in Hollywood try to remain as apolitical as possible, like Michael Bay for example. Is that a smarter way to go in order to not turn off any fans?

What do you think out of curiosity?

Why do actors voice controversial views?  As the saying goes, "There is no such thing as bad publicity".  The reasoning is that even if people are trying to raise a big stink about how some actor is immoral, politically incorrect, morally offensive, or corrupting the youth of the world, they're just giving the actor attention, increasing how well-known he or she is, arousing people's natural curiosity as to why this person is allegedly so offensive, and making their work into "forbidden fruit".

Daisy Ridley came out against firearm ownership?  Sure, a few gun owners might boycott Star Wars, but they're likely balanced out by people who would watch Star Wars just to see what all the excitement is about.

People call any military veteran "Islamophobic" these days -- I have been called Islamophobic for joining the Navy just before Operation Desert Storm, and I didn't even see any combat then!

Now, are you implying that actors should say only what they are told to say, even when not on the payroll of a production studio?  Are you suggesting that actors should forfeit their rights to Free Speech?

Well in Liam Neeson's case, him voicing his speech lead to the red carpet event for his latest film being cancelled as a result.

And now there are worries that Driver might be cancelled as a result.

So what good is exercising free speech, if it just leads to cancellations in your career? Is it worth the cancelations? Isn't that bad publicity, if it leads to cancellations?

Again, publicity.  For better or worse, people are paying attention -- you are paying attention, so the tactic seems to work.

Besides, why do you care about some B actor's career?  Are they your responsibility, or are you theirs?

Oh I don't care it just I don't get why you would want to voice your political opinions in your career, in such politically sensitive times as now.

It just seems like a really risky and dumb thing to do, and I was just asking about it, since I don't understand why people would want to play with fire with their careers like that.

Last edited by ironpony on 26 May 2020, 9:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Publicity, publicity, publicity!

Oh, and did I mention ... PUBLICITY?

But is there really no such thing as bad publicity is that really true? Mel Gibson hasn't hardly done much in his career since his controversial speech, so wouldn't that be an example of bad publicity?

Mel Gibson hasn't done much acting, this is true.  He has, however, been keeping busy in other aspects of the film industry.

But hasn't him not doing much acting as a result of his speech that brought that publicity?

Dude, that horse is dead.  You can stop beating it any time now...

Well another example is Rosanna Barr. Her show was cancelled because of a remark she made publicly. Isn't it bad publicity if the show was cancelled as a result?

There are pros and cons. On the one hand, they might lose their fan base. On the other hand, they might use their "authority" over their fan base to convert them to their political views (something ordinary citizen can't hope for). And on yet another hand, they might "gain" some fans who happened to have had their views. So it really goes both ways.

Why would someone who isn't a celebrity divulge into their political views? Getting ostracized is no fun. Well, a celebrity doesn't have to worry about getting ostracized. Even if they lose half of their base -- the other half would be more than enough to keep them happy.

Also I am sure they are used to criticism anyway. Even if they don't share any views, what if they are rock stars and some Christian fundamentalists are against rock? So they have both fans and enemies regardless. And now they will get new fans and new enemies. Nothing new on the grand scheme of things.

Well it just seems weird to me that celebrities would do this publicly. Even as a celebrity, it's risky cause you may be ostracized.

For example, if at my work, I were to do what Liam Neeson did and tell all my co-workers at lunch that, my friend was raped by a black man, so I spent the next few days cruising the black area of town wanting to kill any black man I could find, who wanted to start a fight as a result, I would probably be the most unpopular person at work. Sure, maybe the benefit is, no one will mess with you there, because they will see as someone not to be messed, which may be a pro, but it would probably bring more cons much more likely, would it not?

Here's something to think about.

Imagine starting at a job where you don't know a whole lot but you need to 'fake it to make it' and you end up with what most beginning professionals with a dirth of training end up feeling - ie. imposter syndrome.

Now - imagine being someone whose paid millions of dollars for how well they can pretend to be someone else. That's it. That's their bread and butter, or worse - their identity, a hollow suit.

Now - add the personality factors that might make someone really good at that.

If you follow that train of logic you realize you're looking at some pretty frail people who are coming from a very strange place. Some of those people end up doing interesting things with that angst like waking up at 2:30 AM every morning to work out for the first half of the day and be in bed by 7:30PM every night, and then everyone talks about their workout and sleep routines, likely one of the more constructive outcomes, then you have the opposite end where they end up constantly in and out of rehab, and occasionally you have your actor or actress who never smoked, always stayed family oriented, died in the church they grew up in, and those started either being an extremely rare breed in Hollywood or the breed who made movies for a few years and then voluntarily retired to go back to family life with perhaps some exceptions.

It does make me wonder whose psychologically healthier on the whole - movie stars or porn stars, that might actually be a close call!

Well idk why can't any of the rest of us always keep our mouths shut?

Actors are people to...they have feelings and emotions and it seems a ridiculous request that they never let any of that out. Why shouldn't actors and actresses be able to say what they think about things? Does gaining fame mean a person is not a person anymore? Maybe people should just stop putting actors and actresses as well as other celebrities on a pedestal. They are just people...human beings on some level they are no different than the rest of us.

Why shouldn't actors have an opinion? Its your own fault if you think they force your opinion...like why do you have to listen to a celebrity? If you can't form your own opinion and are that putty like that any actor or actress can corrupt your opinion just by saying something you don't agree with then its you with the problem not the celebrity that said the thing you don't like.

I guess it is a bit different if an actor or actress or celeb, goes on record saying they will commit a criminal act or some kind of violence...like that should be a serious matter. But other then that I don't get why people get so enraged whenever an actor has an opinion on something.

I have to suspect it wasn't just the remark she made. I have to assume the show was already not getting as high of a rating as the producers had hoped(suppose not a lot of young people were digging into ole Roseanne) the only person I knew of who was a little interested was my 80 year old grandfather. So it was a combination of it not getting the success they had hoped for along with her terrible remark that did it. Honestly I could be wrong but kind of seems like it was already going downhill and her remark just put the nail in the coffin.