Sunday, August 22, 2010

'You’re an Actor, Act. Don’t Talk About Politics or Religion'

Safe to say Julia Roberts gets it. Unfortunately too many of her Hollywood brethren have never figured that out. It's political season, which means it's time for celebutards to say really stupid things.
As August winds to a close, midterm elections are just around the corner, and the debate on who will bring home the bacon in November is heating up – in Hollywood, that is.

“The Tea Party is going to split the Republican vote,” songstress Sheryl Crow predicted to Fox sister publication The Australian this week. “Which can only be good for the Democrats. That has to be the hope. Either that, or we all move to Canada.”
Is there anything more childish than the ritualistic declaration you're going to pick up and leave the country if you don't get your way?
Crow is on tour to promote her new album, 100 Miles from Memphis. Reviews for the album have been mixed – but Crow has not minced words in giving her own review of the political scene. New song “Say What You Want” takes aim at Sarah Palin: “I saw you ranting on TV today // I heard you tell me to reload // You got a lot of nerve to talk that way // Someone unplug the microphone.”

Crow told The Australian, “It’s risky to do that because you just get slagged off for being preachy. But the morning Sarah Palin came out and said, ‘reload,’ there was no way I wasn’t going to write about that. I did struggle whether to put it on the record or not, because it’s such a hot button.”
Crow, of course, became a national laughingstock over her weird obsession with toilet paper. Being a punchline apparently hasn't curbed her nuttiness.

On the upside, some Hollywood types know better.
One star this week even felt obligated to explain why she doesn’t sound off on hot topics. “I’ve realized something my mother told me 22 years ago,” Julia Roberts said while on tour in Tokyo to promote her new movie "Eat, Pray, Love". “You’re an actor, act. Don’t talk about politics or religion.”

But while the Sean Penns, George Clooneys, and Jon Voights of the world are known as much for their politics as for their art, many Hollywood celebrities still stay out of the political arena – at least publicly.

Jennifer Aniston has been on every single show this week, but you haven’t heard her talking about Afghanistan. You don’t hear Stallone talking about health care. Give me something of depth, something meaty,” says Grobel. “There’s a glut of celebrities not having opinions and being vapid and dumbing down America with attempts at promoting themselves over and over again. Let them take a note of seriousness once in a while.”
Update: Via Sister Toldjah, apparently Roberts hasn't always practiced what she's now preaching.

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