Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

First, I want to point out that I have never been a fan of the Golden Globes, Oscars or any celebrity awards show, mostly because I find them self-serving and boring even when you have somebody as funny as Billy Crystal or Ricky Gervais hosting them. Plus, most of the movies that end up getting nominated are ones that I wouldn’t have paid two dollars to rent at a Red Box machine or would have given two hours of my time to watch on Netflix. In this particular case I did enjoy the uproar that had been created by Ricky Gervais, the 2020 host of the Golden Globes. Gervais had taken several potshots at Hollywood, which included self-righteous celebrities who brag about the causes they support, but are still willing to take money from corporations with shady practices. He also took shots at Felicity Huffman for the college admissions scandal, though I would have to say that my favorite of all his puns was the one that was aimed at the very heart of celebrity culture. Gervais, basically told his colleagues in the entertainment industry to stop making political speeches when they accept their awards. He also said “You're in no position to lecture the public about anything, You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.”

I have to admit that when it comes to Ricky Gervais, I am most familiar with his performance in movies such as The Invention of Lying and Ghost Town, both of which I really enjoyed. Though after seeing the way he slammed the self-righteous fools from Tinseltown who always mistake the size of their incomes with that of their intellects, he actually became one of my heroes. If you take a look at the some of the reactions of his fellow actors at the Golden Globes, you could tell that many of them were butt-hurt from Gervais’ speech. It seems like the worst of Gervais’ backlash came from members of the mainstream media who routinely suck up to these self-important fools. You have that idiot reporter, Mark Harris from the Vanity Fair who called Gervais’ jokes, right-wing. Not only is Gervais far from being “right-wing”, but nothing about what he said sounded like anything that would be at all be synonymous with the right. Gervais even asked how jokes that bash corporations and some of the richest people in the world could possibly be labeled right-wing? Oh, Ricky. You should know that is how they label any speech that they don’t like.

My favorite response came from Lorraine Ali, a tv reporter from the LA Times, who said that Gervais was wrong in bashing celebrities who were trying to use their influence to change things for the better. When I read that quote, it took me nearly twenty minutes to get over my laughing fits. Either this reporter has gone in full suck-up mode or she is hopelessly naïve to believe that anybody actually values the opinions of celebrities. True, we do have a cultural that obsesses a little too much about the lives of celebrities, such as tabloid magazines that act shocked when a celebrity is seen buying cupcakes or having picnics like any normal human being. However, I think the obsession that people have with these superstars has more to do with the talent they possess as opposed to their insight on world events. People simply want to be entertained by these celebrities and could care less about what they think about climate change, gun laws or the Trump administration.

Seriously, does anyone actually believe that the average celebrity is better informed than the average man? During the Golden Globes several celebrities went on and on about how the wildfires in Australia were caused by climate change, even though several arsonists in that country had been arrested for causing those fires. This definitely shows how much more informed celebrities are than everybody else. To me that actually reinforces the point made by Matt Stone and Trey Parker with Team America: World Police, when they portrayed politically charged actors as misguided fools who read every newspaper and pretend that it is their own opinion.

I have found some words of wisdom that has been offered by celebrities. There was Brad Pitt in his Pre-Jolie days, who said this when he was asked about China’s occupation of Tibet, “How should I know? I am just a f@$#ing actor.” Interesting enough, the great Anthony Hopkins would echo a similar sentiment about his own knowledge of politics many years later, though he put it a little more eloquently than Brad Pitt. Then there is the great Alice Cooper, who said “if you need rock stars to tell you how to vote then you are dumber than they are.” Though my favorite quote, which comes from Mark Walberg, is much more simplistic. I have had some disagreements with the anti-gun statements that he has made in the past, but at least Walberg has enough hindsight and common sense to understand that his opinion doesn’t carry more weight just because he is a celebrity. He basically said that it was pointless for actors to preach politics when people really care more about putting food on the table than they do about the opinions of Hollywood elites. Right you are, Mark.

Now, don’t get me wrong, celebrities have a right to speak their minds like anybody else. However, they need to understand that when say the things they do, they are speaking for themselves and nobody else. Many of these celebrities are arrogant enough to believe that they speak for the common man or they believe that since they are rich and famous, their opinions carry more weight. The truth is that most Americans could care less about what they think about world events. They just care about being entertained. So, as Laura Ingraham once said, shut up and sing/dance/act/write/direct/produce/score a touchdown/slam-dunk a basketball or whatever your talent may be.