Posted on 12/22/2016 1:56:13 PM PST by drewh
Donald Trump’s inauguration team is allegedly having trouble finding “A-list” talent to perform at Trump’s swearing in ceremony come January. The reason? “They do not want to ‘normalize’ Trump’s presidency.” Hot Air’s Jazz Shaw explains why this is a stupid idea.
[This is] yet another example of the clueless nature of the L.A. crowd. They worked as their own billion dollar army to defeat Trump, hosting concerts and fundraisers along with showing up alongside Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail. We all saw how that worked out. I’m not sure how many more whacks with the clue bat will be required before it begins to sink in. The American people don’t need to be preached to by a bunch of pampered film stars or singers when it comes to how best to run the country or what our values should be. The astounding, er… ‘success’ of Miss Sloane on its opening weekend should tell them that nobody is listening other than the liberals who were already drinking the same Kool-Aid anyway.
He’s not wrong. If celebrities choose to boycott the inauguration, they’re demonstrating an inability to live in and deal with reality. Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States whether or not Elton John and company show up at his inauguration, so doubling down on the “we don’t want to ‘normalize’ Trump” rhetoric makes zero sense. What’s more problematic about this boycott, however, is that it’s a missed opportunity for these artists to expose their point of view to millions of people who wouldn’t normally be receptive to it.
Hollywood types aren’t the only creative forces attempting to get themselves as far away as they possibly can from anyone whose last name is Trump. Artists are angry that Ivanka Trump buys their very expensive paintings and displays them in her home.
“I think there are a lot of artists that are uncomfortable now being incorporated, or leveraged, as part of the Ivanka Trump brand,” art dealer Bill Powers told Bloomberg.
Artists and dealers alike have taken to Instagram to vent their frustrations. They’re reposting with angry messages from the artists photos of Ivanka standing beside works of art.
“Underneath a photo of Trump posing in front of a painting by Da Corte, the artist wrote: ‘Dear @Ivankatrump please get my work off of your walls. I am embarrassed to be seen with you,'” Bloomberg reports.
Maybe I’m missing something, but I thought the whole point of being an artist was to express ideas, thoughts, and perspectives through a medium that others can appreciate and enjoy, even those who think differently. These artists who are embarrassed their work hangs on Ivanka’s walls aren’t interested in influencing the environment of a soon-to-be leader. They want their creations to be displayed in a safe space to be admired by only those who agree with them and sheltered from the gazes of those who hold a different view. This attitude is not just cowardly, but also dumb, as they’re making themselves irrelevant to half the country.
This is probably a good time to remind everyone of Bruce Springsteen’s 1988 performance in East Berlin, which was, according to a man in attendance that night, “a nail in the coffin for East Germany.”
“I’m not here for any government,” Springsteen said onstage just a year before the Berlin Wall was destroyed. “I’ve come to play rock’n’roll for you in the hope that one day all the barriers will be torn down.”
To Hollywood elites who have wasted no time in comparing Trump to Putin, his inauguration is their Berlin Wall. To turn down a chance to perform at this upcoming historic moment is to turn down the chance to echo Springsteen’s sentiments to a nation of people who are so bitterly divided. They should rethink their boycotts and tantrums and instead do what they do best — perform and create.
Bre Payton is a staff writer at The Federalist. Follow her on Twitter.
Liberals are too intolerant to be a part of this nation. Let’s just ignore them.
Famous singer, sing your heart out at Trump’s inauguration and sell more albums this year - in January alone - than any of these fools. Guaranteed.
The Hollyweird blacklisters can go to hell.
It occurs to me that Hollywood has not thought this out. Trump could take all the FBI investigators looking into piracy and have them working on the price fixing collusion by the big studios that keep movies and music artificially high... This would cut them off at the knees and take a lot of the Democratic funders out of business
Hey, my band will play. We do a helluva “Louie Louie”!
Agree 100%.
Let them enjoy their incomes plummet as Mr Trump begins succeeding and wins over many Hillary voters.
There’s already half of the country that doesn’t agree with their position. The more they talk, the less people want to buy their music or watch their shows and movies.
It’s a good Trump 2020 campaign strategy for Hollyweird. The rest of us are sick and tired of their elitist snobbery.
Their loss, maybe they can create another awards show to award themselves awards.
First of all, why give these retards a stage to spew their bile? And that’s what they’ll do if they perform.
As for country singers, the record labels tell them what songs to record, what key to sing them in and where they can and cannot appear.
The record companies actually think liberals will not buy a CD of a singer that performs for Trump. They should know that only conservatives follow through on their boycott threats. So, this will back fire on them. By not allowing their performers to appear will cause conservatives to stop buying their products. Remember the Dixie Chicks!
Not to mention being a really STOOPID business decision. The people who will be in Ivanka's apartment are exactly the kind of people who will buy expensive art, and might even look to her for suggestions. This artist, and others, bitching about their precious art gracing the walls of a Trump abode might just find themselves shut out of a YUGE market.
Insofar as can be seen by a hick such as I it appears that Hollywood and the American “music” business are dead anyway. I can’t name a single performing singer under forty years old that I would listen to other than Josh Turner and he is thirty nine. I don’t know of a recent movie I would give two cents to see.
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