in Opinion, Politics, Presidential Campaign

Mark Wahlberg: “Hollywood is Living in a Bubble”

by Andrew December 1, 2016, 8:47 pm 194 Comments

If you can’t remember whether Mark Wahlberg is a Republican or a Democrat, there might be a reason for that. In an interview with Task & Purpose magazine, Wahlberg said he was reluctant to talk about politics in a public way.

“A lot of celebrities did, do, and shouldn’t,” Wahlberg said.

He pointed out the recent election results, which didn’t seem reflective of the Hollywood view.

“You know, it just goes to show you that people aren’t listening to that anyway,” he said. “They might buy your CD or watch your movie, but you don’t put food on their table. You don’t pay their bills. A lot of Hollywood is living in a bubble. They’re pretty out of touch with the common person, the everyday guy out there providing for their family. Me, I’m very aware of the real world. I come from the real world and I exist in the real world. And although I can navigate Hollywood and I love the business and the opportunities it’s afforded me, I also understand what it’s like not to have all that.”

Why don’t more celebrities get this? What’s so difficult to grasp?

The problem isn’t that most celebrities are liberal. And the problem isn’t that they’re celebrities. No one’s suggesting that the star of an HBO show has less right to her opinion than anyone else. No one’s saying that being an actor is synonymous with being stupid. One of our greatest presidents came out of Hollywood, after all. And our next one has been a celebrity for decades. It’s fine.

The problem is that when these actors start spouting off about politics, they have a soapbox that isn’t justified by their expertise. When they say something, millions of people hear it. They hear it because the person saying it is famous. Except, Alec Baldwin is famous because he’s a movie star – not because he’s a world-renowned political expert. Why should his opinion be given so much more attention and weight than anyone else’s? If he was talking about acting, great! That’s why he’s famous. But who needs to hear his opinion on climate change?

Maybe Mark Wahlberg has a couple of MAGA hats in his closet; maybe he cried himself to sleep on election night. The point is, we don’t need to know. Why turn off half the moviegoing public with unnecessary moralizing?