When Stars Fall

How Out-of-Touch Celebrities Failed to Sway the Election

“Republicans buy sneakers, too.”

~ Michael Jordan

Say what you want about the recent election and the guy who won—it laid bare some uncomfortable truths. The identity politics remain in full swing, our country's mental health crisis is worse than ever… But one thing stood out more than anything else—something I want to discuss today. I'm talking about celebrity endorsements and their spectacular failure to sway the presidential race. It's a canary in the coal mine moment, signaling an era where celebs no longer matter—though they're still acting like it's their golden age.

The seeds for this were planted during COVID, when our glamorized court fools preached “we're all in this together” from their $20-million Beverly Hills mansions—complete with private gyms and hot tubs—while ordering the rest of us to stay indoors and comply. But this last presidential election was truly the final nail in the coffin.

Just take a look at this video featuring the once-beloved Ben Stiller endorsing Kamala Harris—it perfectly encapsulates the issue of being out of touch, much more effectively than I could. For those who’d rather read, the transcript of the main part is included below.

And she's also a historic candidate, you know? It's going to be the first woman president, and that's incredibly exciting. And, you know, she's Indian, she's Black; she's everything. You can be more than one thing, it's incredible. You know, I'm Jewish and Irish. I wish I was Black—every white Jewish guy wishes he was Black. You know, just get out there and vote and donate and, like, take advantage. This is such an important time right now, and this wave of energy that's happening—we've got to keep going with it. So please, do everything you can.

Did you hear that? She's everything. Woman. Indian woman. Black woman. Just endless identity politics hammered into your skull, but zero substance. Nothing about the border crisis, runaway inflation, foreign wars, or any of the disasters we've endured these past four years. You know, the actual issues keeping Americans up at night.

But if you thought that was a bit out of touch and condescending, buckle up. Here comes George Clooney with something so outrageous it almost reads like parody. Here's what he actually said recently (emphasis mine):

All I can say is that whether you are an actor, singer, director, or whatever, we do matter, and we are very important. So, I don't need to be lectured about how celebrities don't matter—they do matter. And the public needs the voice coming from those like us. What would the world do without those of high status that have a large following, that are known to the world for the greater good and provide their world views and beliefs? It's a very important thing, and I think it's wrong—just absolutely wrong—for the public to judge us just because we have fame, money, and status. It's the weakest argument of all.

He finishes up by telling us lowly peasants that we can't just “rely on your neighbor.” No, no, I wouldn't dream of it, Mr. Clooney—clearly we need Hollywood aristocrats to guide our simple minds.

Let that sink in. Clooney genuinely believes we need celebrities as our moral compass. These are people who've never worried about grocery prices or mortgage payments, who scold us about climate change between private jet flights, who demand open borders while living behind fortress walls. They're so disconnected from reality they actually believe they should guide the moral and political choices of working Americans. The delusion would be laughable if it weren't so insulting.

Celebrity Echo Chamber for Hire

Stiller and Clooney aren't alone in their celebrity echo chamber. Glamour magazine compiled what they claim is a complete list of celebrity endorsements for Kamala Harris—though “complete” might be stretching it, as it doesn't include many other major Hollywood names like Brad Pitt and Owen Wilson.

Still, just try scrolling through it. Go ahead, I'll wait... Actually, no, I won't—we'd be here all day. It's an endless parade: Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Stevie Nicks, Willie Nelson, Brittney Spencer, Cher, Marc Anthony, Lizzo, Olivia Rodrigo, John Legend... and that's barely scratching the surface.

And naturally, these luminaries believe their opinions—whether about nutrition, exercise, pets, or yes, politics—should matter deeply to us common folk. Even Variety magazine, in a piece so tone-deaf it could have been written by Clooney himself, argues that “We Need to Hear From Artists Now More Than Ever.” That's their actual headline—post-election loss and everything. I kid you not. Here's one particular quote that caught my eye:

Whether celebrities budged any significant needles this election is hard to quantify — but it’s wrong to discount it. You can at least raise the possibility the results would have been a little worse for Democrats without the majority of the arts world clearly standing on one side.

Are they serious? How exactly could things have been worse for the Democrats? They lost the popular vote, the presidency, and the Senate. Even though some House races are still being counted—taking longer than in even the most dysfunctional third-world backwaters—the House remains out of reach.

So, realistically, despite scores of celebrities coming to the rescue for the Democrats, things could not have turned out any worse.

But here's the real kicker—most of these weren't even genuine endorsements. Recent reports show the Harris campaign was literally buying support: $10 Million to Beyoncé, $5 Million for Megan Thee Stallion, $2.3 Million for Lizzo, $1.8 Million for Eminem, $1 Million for Oprah. They even spent $100,000 just to build a temporary duplicate studio in a hotel for her “Call Her Daddy” appearance because she didn't want to fly to California.

This helps explain how Harris's campaign managed to raise over $1 billion yet somehow end up $20 million in debt. For perspective, Trump's campaign raised $381 million, spent $345 million (with only about $10 million on staff).

The analyst in me can't help but note: the fact that Kamala lost with a literal billion dollars AND still ended up in debt tells you everything you need to know about how she would have handled the economy.

The Death of the Star

So, how did this happen? It's a crucial question that gets right to the heart of the entertainment business—Hollywood in particular. Keep in mind, not so long ago, people actually looked up to actors and celebrities, as if the simple fact of being famous somehow infused them with wisdom and knowledge far greater than that of us mere mortals.

The answer is pretty simple: Hollywood and celebrities at large have become fundamentally misaligned with their core audience. Have been for a while now.

At the heart of this issue lies the DEI movement, a topic I've explored multiple times in these pages (you can catch up here, here, here, and here).

You have things like California's film tax credits now being tied to diversity quotas and the Oscars requiring specific diversity standards just to be eligible for Best Picture nominations. To list just a few examples...

The result? They've filled their writer rooms and executive suites with people who actively despise their audience. I'm not exaggerating here. These are people who view traditional values as the enemy. Many proudly call themselves activists, like it's a badge of honor—and that includes the actual actors too.

So what do you get? Every other movie is a heavy-handed lecture about "girl power" that dumps on men, pushes LGBT messaging whether it fits the story or not, and treats half their potential audience with pure contempt.

This slavish adherence to "the message" is, of course, antithetical to all creativity. They're not making entertainment anymore—they're making propaganda, and increasingly bad propaganda at that.

And then they sit back and wonder why these projects (I won't even dignify them by calling them movies) fail. And fail they do. Just look at the big franchises: Between 2015 and 2019, 25 out of 30 superhero titles—83%—took in more than $500 million worldwide. After their hard pivot to "message" movies, the numbers flipped. Since 2022, only 7 of 17 superhero titles managed to cross that mark. Marvel's had six flops in a row, and DC Studios is burning through reboots faster than Superman changes clothes.

And this doesn't even touch what happened during COVID, when theaters went dark and releases froze. Lockdowns and social media also exposed celebrities for what they really were: activists and establishment shills committing career suicide one post at a time. “Never meet your heroes,” as the saying goes. Well, we did—and found nothing but petty, narcissistic attention-seekers desperate for validation.

Of course, Hollywood can't fix these problems because they don't even understand them. They've created an echo chamber so perfect that they literally cannot comprehend why audiences aren't showing up or why nobody cares what their “stars” have to say.

It's the same delusional mindset that led Kamala Harris' campaign to believe that paying celebrities millions for endorsements would somehow win over regular Americans. They actually thought people struggling with inflation and border chaos would be swayed by Beyoncé's $10 million opinion.

Will Democrats learn from this spectacular failure? Not bloody likely. And it goes double for the even more disconnected power players in Hollywood. My bet is that both groups will double down on exactly what's driving audiences away—both at the polls and the box office.

This is bad news for an industry already on life support. Just look at the numbers. Warner Bros. Discovery's theatrical revenue plunged 40%. Disney's stock is down 50% from its 2021 level. AMC Theaters is fighting for survival. And U.S. movie ticket sales have collapsed 46% from their 2003 levels.

So, if you're holding positions in major studios, theater chains, or entertainment conglomerates, you might want to consider getting out while you can. Or if you're more financially savvy, consider betting against them. Throw the AI disruption into the mix, and this industry is headed for a long and painful adjustment. I believe that bet could pay off handsomely.

After all, when your business model relies on paying millions to out-of-touch celebrities to influence an audience that increasingly despises them... well, that's not exactly a recipe for long-term success.

Regards,

Lau Vegys