# Are Hollywood celebrities really good spokespeople for other areas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 9, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771 "2017-01-09T22:41:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/21 "2017-01-10T14:01:25Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > She didn’t denigrate the NFL or MMA, she just said they were not “the arts”, which is correct. Oh, come on. This was not a narrow technical point about the arts. She was clearly saying that shutting down Hollywood would leave the American people bereft of quality entertainment. Her disdain for football and MMA was absolutely clear from her tone. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/22 "2017-01-10T14:10:07Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > IIRC, most actors come from middle or upper middle class backgrounds in the first place. Streep, movie star, the daughter of a Big Pharma executive and married to a famous sculptor certainly would not have had much chance to interact with the Great Unwashed. Trump on the other hand, silver spoon and all, is a real estate developer, by the nature of his work would be more attuned to working class problem. He develops very high rent properties. The only working class problem he understands is they cost too much. And he has a solution to that. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/23 "2017-01-10T14:13:23Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > She didn’t denigrate the NFL or MMA, she just said they were not “the arts”, which is correct. Here’s the entirety of what she said about those two things. Meryl Streep is better equipped to form and voice opinions than most celebrities. She is educated, cultured, and thoughtful. > > **And as you said, her point about Trump bullying or mocking the reporter goes right to the heart of why our president-elect is not fit for any polite gathering, let alone the presidency**. Leaving politics and any other considerations aside, the incident she delicately referred to proves that he is a mean, miserable, pusillanimous barbarian. That was one of the poorest parts of her speech. It simply isn’t true what she said about that incident. The reporter Trump mocked was a legitimate target for mocking. Trump can’t complain too much though(not that that’ll prevent him) as that part of Streep’s speech is an example of the whole fake news post truth moment we now live in. If you live by truthiness you die by truthiness. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/24 "2017-01-10T14:15:23Z")
Let me think about the OP for a minute: Well, sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/25 "2017-01-10T14:21:17Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Let me think about the OP for a minute: > > Well, sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren’t. Absolutely. And sometimes the same celebrity can be an excellent spokesperson for one cause and an atrocious person for another. I give you Bob Geldof as a prime example. Alleviating famine in Africa - excellent, keeping the UK in the European Union - _not_ excellent. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/26 "2017-01-10T14:31:23Z")
Were you cool with Jerry Lewis’s telethons? Were you cool with a reality star waging a war against a sitting president, WRONGLY asserting he was not a born citizen? Howie Mandel speaking out about mental illness? In an age of outright lies spread as fake news, and a president elect who can’t seem to open his mouth with uttering an untruth, (I’ll put her in jail, Mexico will pay for the wall, etc, etc,), an actress expressing her personal views seems like pretty small potatoes to me. ---
**Author:** ![Hiker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3be4f8/32.png) [@Hiker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hiker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/27 "2017-01-10T14:51:20Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > That was one of the poorest parts of her speech. It simply isn’t true what she said about that incident. The reporter Trump mocked was a legitimate target for mocking. Trump can’t complain too much though(not that that’ll prevent him) as that part of Streep’s speech is an example of the whole fake news post truth moment we now live in. If you live by truthiness you die by truthiness. What exactly does make that reporter a legitimate target for mocking his disability? And what in Meryl Streep’s speech do you deem to be factually incorrect? The intel I have been able to come up with seems to indicate that she is pretty much [spot on](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/08/02/donald-trumps-revisionist-history-of-mocking-a-disabled-reporter/?utm_term=.4ab746214e4d). Now the WP may not exactly be unbiased, but they make a convincing case here. Do you have access to other facts? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/28 "2017-01-10T15:02:48Z")
> [@Hiker](#): > > What exactly does make that reporter a legitimate target for mocking his disability? And what in Meryl Streep’s speech do you deem to be factually incorrect? The intel I have been able to come up with seems to indicate that she is pretty much [spot on](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/08/02/donald-trumps-revisionist-history-of-mocking-a-disabled-reporter/?utm_term=.4ab746214e4d). Now the WP may not exactly be unbiased, but they make a convincing case here. Do you have access to other facts? I suggest Trump was not mocking the reporters disability. It’s pretty much the same gesture Trump gives when he is mocking a public figure for walking back a statement or becoming flustered. He did the same kind of gestures and hand waving when criticizing public figures before this specific incident and the same kind of gestures afterwards. The reporter mocking gesture was not a one off. However, only Trump knows whether or not he exaggerated this specific gesture for effect this time. The evidence of his previous attempts at mocking people suggests he was not mocking the reporters disability. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/29 "2017-01-10T15:06:01Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > I suggest Trump was not mocking the reporters disability. It’s pretty much the same gesture Trump gives when he is mocking a public figure for walking back a statement or becoming flustered. He did the same kind of gestures and hand waving when criticizing public figures before this specific incident and the same kind of gestures afterwards. The reporter mocking gesture was not a one off. However, only Trump knows whether or not he exaggerated this specific gesture for effect this time. The evidence of his previous attempts at mocking people suggests he was not mocking the reporters disability. As I just posted in another thread: Let’s say a person uses the term “retard” to insult people he disagrees with. If he then uses the term “retard” in relation to someone with a disability, _that person is still mocking that person’s disability._ Just because he accuses other people of having a mental disability doesn’t mean that the person isn’t being mocking disabled people – either in general or one in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/30 "2017-01-10T15:20:10Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Were you cool with Jerry Lewis’s telethons? > > Were you cool with a reality star waging a war against a sitting president, WRONGLY asserting he was not a born citizen? > > Howie Mandel speaking out about mental illness? > > _ **SNIP** _ Or better yet, for those upset with Streep, were they okay with an actor running for Governor of California and later President? She isn’t the first celebrity to mix in politics and will hardly be the last. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/31 "2017-01-10T15:32:58Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I mean to me, the people in Hollywood live in their own private bubble. They know nothing about life in ordinary America. There’s no such thing as “ordinary America” and everyone lives in their own private bubble these days. The right-wing certainly like to pretend that _they_ represent ordinary, hard-working citizens and that anyone who disagrees with them lives in a bubble disconnected from reality (and, on the more extreme side, that those people are godless communist libtards living off taxpayers’ money), but the truth is they believe that because that’s the message they tell themselves in their own little bubble. Meanwhile, one thing that that little private bubble that is Hollywood _does_ represent is the creative sector, which provides some of the biggest American exports year-on-year and [generates over 3% of the GDP](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywood-creative-industries-add-504-662691). Which brings in a lot of tax revenue, which in turn pays for all those farm subsidies and the benefits for all those poor white “ordinary American” Republican voters. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/32 "2017-01-10T15:46:46Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Oh, come on. This was not a narrow technical point about the arts. She was clearly saying that shutting down Hollywood would leave the American people bereft of quality entertainment. Her disdain for football and MMA was absolutely clear from her tone. While at work yesterday, I read the transcript and would have agreed. After watching the video, I thought she was trying to make a joke about the A in MMA being “art”. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/33 "2017-01-10T16:16:59Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > While at work yesterday, I read the transcript and would have agreed. After watching the video, I thought she was trying to make a joke about the A in MMA being “art”. I think she was sort of piling on a humorous point about the “art” in MMA. But in no way does anyone generally refer to football as an art, martial or otherwise. She was clearly saying that shutting down Hollywood would leave America with substandard forms of entertainment, such as the lowly spectacle of sports. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/34 "2017-01-10T16:36:31Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > As I just posted in another thread: > > Let’s say a person uses the term “retard” to insult people he disagrees with. If he then uses the term “retard” in relation to someone with a disability, _that person is still mocking that person’s disability._ Just because he accuses other people of having a mental disability doesn’t mean that the person isn’t being mocking disabled people – either in general or one in particular. I think this at most falls under microaggression; something most of the public imo doesn’t give a two hoots about. Heck, Trump didn’t even use the same gestures as the reporter has shown in the few brief clips I have seen of him. ---
**Author:** ![Doubticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@Doubticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubticus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/35 "2017-01-10T16:46:25Z")
I think we have to be careful with labels. Calling someone a “Hollywood Celebrity” tells your brain to not consider that specific person’s life experiences and substitute a lazy stereotypical notion instead. Are “Cab Drivers”, “Union Reps”, “Teachers”, “Police”, “Welders”, etc. good spokespeople for other areas? Perhaps they are, perhaps they aren’t. It depends on the persons individual experience, not the label we affix them with. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/36 "2017-01-10T16:50:02Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > I think this at most falls under microaggression; something most of the public imo doesn’t give a two hoots about. > > Heck, Trump didn’t even use the same gestures as the reporter has shown in the few brief clips I have seen of him. So, it’s not an insult because it’s a\*\*\* bad\*\*\* impersonation? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/37 "2017-01-10T17:00:36Z")
You mean Mixed Martial Arts aren’t really art? Holy crap!!! :eek: > [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Listen to everything. > > Then use your brain. I try to live my life according to the precepts of Ted Nugent. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/38 "2017-01-10T17:54:30Z")
For those of us on the Right, it does get tiresome and annoying to sit through political statements from pop culture stars, who tend to represent the far left. But I can’t fault anyone in the spotlight for using that spotlight to promote whatever causes he or she supports. I’m sure I’d do the same if I were any kind of celebrity. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/39 "2017-01-10T17:57:26Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > So, it’s not an insult because it’s a\*\*\* bad\*\*\* impersonation? A: Trump was an asshole to that reporter. B: No, see here he is being an asshole to other people in the same way. A: … ---
**Author:** ![greenmario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/97f17d/32.png) [@greenmario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenmario)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771/40 "2017-01-10T18:27:58Z")
I don’t have any issue with celebrities using their notoriety to advance their politics, but at this point acceptance speeches have become a bit contrived. Honestly I’d rather hear a funny story about the movie or people you worked with than a tangentially related political rant. There’s a time and a place, I’m sure Meryl Streep could find a news outlet that would be happy to interview her in a more relevant setting. Also, were the Hollywood press even that maligned this past year? I was under the impression that “lying media” was more of dig a CNN, MSNBC, ect. rather than E! and TMZ. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-hollywood-celebrities-really-good-spokespeople-for-other-areas/776771.md?page=3)