Conservative celebrities on the TV (Fox News)network are displeased with the idea of the music megastar (Taylor Swift) supporting President Biden in the 2024 race.
Why Fox News said so?
As you may have noticed, Taylor Swift is everywhere. She is seen jam-packing arenas for her Eras Tour, filling theaters with her concert film, and occasionally appearing on TV while rooting for her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, from a luxurious suite at Kansas City Chiefs games. She is currently residing rent-free in the minds of Fox News hosts.
Following tidings that the Biden reelection campaign sought the superstar’s endorsement (who supported President Biden in 2020), network pundits put on their culture-war balaclavas. “Avoid getting embroiled in politics!” She was persuaded by Jeanine Pirro. “We would prefer not to have you there!” Charly Arnolt, another pundit, begged readers not to believe everything Taylor Swift said. In prime time, Sean Hannity addressed the matter, saying, “Maybe she wants to think twice.”
Fox’s panic attack comes after months of opulent conspiracy theories about the power couple from MAGA opinionators. These theories included that Ms. Swift and Mr. Kelce’s romance was staged, that the NFL was rigging the Super Bowl to benefit the Chiefs, and that the whole thing was a sinister scheme to boost a potential Biden endorsement. Fox News host Jesse Watters even dabbled in the rumors, suggesting that Swift’s rise to prominence was a psyops plot orchestrated by the Pentagon. Looking back, “Paul is dead” lacks creativity.
People are, of course, free to voice their thoughts on everything from the potential existence of a secret Pentagon diva lab to celebrity political speech. However, if Fox News’s hosts genuinely think that asking famous people to comment on politics is reckless and hazardous, then might want to focus on… Fox News. Fox has invited Kiss bassist Gene Simmons to discuss how to handle an Ebola outbreak on several occasions throughout the years. It featured fashion star Fabio blaming liberalism for California’s high crime rate. Kid Rock was introduced to cancel culture. On “Fox & Friends” last year, actor Jim Caviezel referred to Donald J. Trump as “the new Moses.”
And let’s not forget that Fox played a key role in helping a specific TV personality enter the political sphere; you may recognize her as the contender Mr. Biden is most likely to face. The network debuted “Mondays With Trump,” a new weekly feature on “Fox & Friends,” in March 2011. Each week, the host of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” who had been a regular guest on the show for years, would criticize the policies of the Obama Administration and explain to the other hosts why he had fired celebrities like LaToya Jackson and Gary Busey on that particular episode.
As a result of his birtherism campaign and his tweets characterizing President Obama’s 2012 win over Mitt Romney as “a total sham and a travesty,” Mr. Trump’s bond with Fox and its viewership only strengthened.
The reason why Mr. Trump was appealing to Fox viewers was partly due to his celebrity, not because of it. They had been informed for years, not only by Fox, that Hollywood celebrities detested their values, but they had also heard leftist speeches given at the Oscars. Here at last was a legitimate star of the prime-time network who understood them and supported them. It goes beyond the fact that Fox has always welcomed celebrities who share its political views. (Its hosts also frequently compliment Ronald Reagan, who was well-versed in film sets.) It has contributed more than any other force to the celebration of conservative politics and the addition of entertainment aspects to them.
From the beginning, Fox promoted a razzle-dazzle image under the leadership of talk-show producer turned political operative Roger Ailes. “Fox & Friends” star Glenn Beck referred to his program as “the fusion of entertainment and enlightenment”; a Fox official once dubbed the program “an entertainment show that does some news.” In a broader sense, Fox has long supported a pop-politics cultural warfare that demonized Kathy Griffin and created a martyr out of Roseanne Barr, and that prompted its audience to wonder if their beer was too liberal. It shared the belief that politics comes from culture, similar to that of right-wing publisher Andrew Breitbart (who borrowed this notion from Marxist scholar Antonio Gramsci).
However, it has been discriminating about which superstars deserve to combine and which should stay in their own lane. In an interview from 2018, LeBron James chastised then-President Trump; Fox’s Laura Ingraham advised him to “shut up and dribble.” For some reason, it was acceptable to have former quarterback Brett Favre and golf champion Jack Nicklaus support Mr. Trump.
Meanwhile, a lot of Ms. Swift’s criticism appears to be laced with contempt, portraying the 34-year-old pop star as a naive fool who is easily tricked by political operatives. “Is it true that Taylor is a clumsy, bumbling mess who they want her to support?” Mr. Hannity questioned, voicing an apprehension he hasn’t expressed when speaking with, say, right-wing rocker Ted Nugent (“never shy about sharing his opinions!”).
Are conservatives on Fox really that worried about anything? One may argue persuasively that celebrity endorsements of political candidates are rarely significant. Scholars have speculated that Oprah’s endorsement helped Obama win a million votes in 2008. However, in 2018, Ms. Swift supported a Democrat in a Tennessee Senate campaign who ultimately lost decisively. It is true that her status as a celebrity has increased from “star” to “molten cosmic supercluster from which galaxies are born” since 2020. However, it’s merely a hunch that her influence could result in votes.
But The Streisand Effect is another celebrity theory that might be relevant in this case. Similar to how Barbra Streisand’s attempt to hide images of her house only served to highlight them, Fox’s criticism might increase Swift’s support. If it succeeds in creating a narrative that pits the Swifties against the G.O.P., conservatives criticizing a hugely popular young lady, or Red America versus “Red (Taylor’s Version)” America, it might even cause pushback.
However, it’s possible that Fox’s sensibilities are too strongly ingrained with attacking celebrities, waging cultural wars, and exploiting fears of cultural marginalization for the network to act in any other way. As Ms. Swift may sing: Take a look at what they’ve accomplished.
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