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The Party Poopers

Most of the celebrities who tiptoed onto the political stage in 2004 have gone silent since Bush's win.

By ERIC DEGGANS
Published January 16, 2005

Once upon a time, we were drowning in them - famous faces such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Kirsten Dunst, Michael Moore, Ted Danson, Meg Ryan, TV judge Greg Mathis, the Dixie Chicks and James Taylor.

As inhabitants of a swing section of a swing state, Tampa Bay area residents got a front-row seat to a curious political phenomenon: newly politically active celebrities. But in the days since President Bush and the GOP have solidified their hold on the government, they are nowhere to be seen.

"It's too hot a topic these days," said Darrell West, a political science professor at Brown University who wrote the book on famous entertainers and elections, a 1992 tome called Celebrity Politics. "I think celebrities tiptoed out into the political world, weren't able to deliver votes and now have retreated to the political backstage. Some of them got burned, and it may make them reluctant to do this again in the future."

Before November's elections, it was a different story. Earnest and resolute, they wanted to make sure you heard their voices on the issues at hand. Sure, they might sign an autograph or pose for a picture if you asked nicely.

But what they really wanted was your attention. Your support. Your vote, even.

What a difference an election makes. Recent attempts by the St. Petersburg Times to engage some of the new (and not-so-new) activist celebs to talk about life after Election Day mostly scored a big fat goose egg - even among those who supported the party that won.

Libertarian HBO pundit Bill Maher? Buffeted by headlines featuring allegations from a past girlfriend, he wasn't doing many interviews. Country star and Bush backer Toby Keith? He "said all he needed to say during the Country Music Awards," according to a publicist. Daily Show host Jon Stewart or his producers at the Comedy Central newscast parody? Too concerned about overexposure to speak now, according to a spokesman.

Newly conservative comic Dennis Miller? Vacationing with his family and can't be bothered.

A publicist for shock rocker Alice Cooper invoked the same "gone fishin"' excuse for her boss, a Bush-backing Republican who once accused rockers aligned against the GOP of committing "treason against rock 'n' roll" - whatever that means.

Electronica whiz Moby. Rappers Jurassic 5. Bluesman Keb' Mo'.

Even former Saturday Night Live star Colin Quinn and comic Drew Carey - two conservative-leaning standups with plenty of free time after their TV shows got canceled by ABC, Comedy Central and the WB this fall - couldn't spare a few moments to reflect on whether their political stands have divided audiences into Red and Blue fans.

Of course, some celebrities, including Frasier star Kelsey Grammer, Gloria Estefan and John Michael Montgomery are expected to take part in the presidential inauguration. Surely they'll find time to salute Dubya and the GOP in between renditions of Conga and Paint the Town Redneck. (We can only fantasize about what disinvited Republican rap-rocker Kid Rock - whose songs include lyrics insulting a rival reduced to "pimpin' Barbara Bush" - might have said about the Bushes during his inaugural performance.)

Still, some stars' postelection reticence may also indicate some second thoughts about the cost of being too vocal during a particularly divisive political season.

"There is an increasing risk of government involvement with (regulating) the entertainment industry - we see it in the attention to indecent rap lyrics and TV indecency - and I think celebrities were (speaking out) to fight off oversight," said West, noting that Democratic challenger John Kerry had promised to put the brakes on efforts to police content.

"My impression is that celebrities raised money and awareness but weren't able to deliver many votes," added the professor, who loosely grouped this election's celebrity activists into pro-Bush country stars and athletes vs. pro-Kerry musicians, Hollywood TV and movie industry types and other urban artists. "And in their involvement, they may actually have increased the odds of government intervention."

The one celebrity we found willing to speak about the activist experience was Esai Morales, a longtime film and TV actor best known for his roles as Lt. Tony Rodriguez on NYPD Blue and Richie Valens' troubled brother in La Bamba.

A veteran of political campaigns who remembers stumping for Michael Dukakis in 1988, Morales says he saw his limited work in 2004 - he played a fictional Latino presidential candidate in a commercial urging the Southwest's Hispanic population to vote - as a parable for how Latinos have been treated recently by the Democratic Party.

"After a while, I realized the party took us for granted," he said. "When I was invited (to campaign rallies), it was very last-minute. And here's the problem with celebrity (activists) . . . we have too many armchair liberals. People who know how to read their scripts, but don't question the concept. I think we were successful in raising awareness - just not successful enough."

In the end, the saga of celebrities and politics reveals the strange ambivalence Americans have with the famous. Lionized as personalities so notable their shopping trips spark media reports, celebrities nevertheless often are attacked as clueless dilettantes once they began expressing their political views at election time.

Media outlets may cover George W. Bush and the Clintons like rock stars, but the public isn't so sure it wants actual rock stars helping set the public discourse on politics, said West.

Talk to the people whose jobs involved getting celebrities on the stump, and you'll hear a different spin. In particular, a number of pro-Democrat groups that mobilized famous names for the 2004 elections point to survey figures showing the number of youth voters rose nearly 10 percent from 2000, indicating at least a limited impact.

"It's not about swaying the election or getting people to vote . . . theoretically, people vote on issues," said Laura Dawn, event and cultural director for MoveOn.org, the pro-Kerry advocacy group that spent $21-million on the 2004 election. "But celebrities produce earned media. When a commercial is special because of the person who made it, then more media stories are done on the ad and it reaches many more people."

Dawn helped organize the 10 Weeks campaign, in which notables such as Matt Damon, Rob Reiner, Kevin Bacon, Al Franken, Martin Sheen and Margaret Cho acted in and/or directed commercials supporting Democrat-friendly issues.

"We were a small, grass-roots organization . . . trying to deliver 444,000 votes for Kerry, and we delivered 600,000," said Dawn, who cited bake sales featuring Franken and Moby and the Vote for Change concerts as examples of how well-known names moved beyond writing checks and smiling at photo opportunities.

"Instead of just using artists to raise money, let's ask them what issues are important to them and make media that might affect the discussion," she said. "I never thought it was in the entertainment community's hands to deliver the election. But they contributed in significant and amazing ways, building a grass-roots movement that still exists."

And it wasn't always easy to win their participation. Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir initially balked at violating the group's longstanding aversion to talking politics onstage, and Dave Matthews faced the question of whether fans would ascribe his activism to his entire band, said Andy Bernstein, co-chair and founder of the nonpartisan voter registration group Headcount.

Eventually, Bernstein saw Weir urging voter registration from the stage and Matthews starring in provoting TV commercials. The key: a sense that the 2004 election was too crucial to sit out.

"A lot of artists felt really uncomfortable about putting politics in their art and using the concert stage to pitch anything," said Bernstein. "Somebody said to me, "You've made politics cool.' We were training the activists of tomorrow . . . and getting people involved who were never involved before."

Now, with Bush back in power and GOP control of Congress strengthened, these celebrity organizers face the challenge of keeping their famous friends engaged - even as pundits sneer that celebrity involvement made little difference in electoral results.

"The impulse is to blame yourself and think that you didn't have an impact and not participate any more," said Jenny Toomey, former director of Air Traffic Control, a group of industry insiders who worked on funneling well-known artists to Democrat-friendly activist groups such as MoveOn, America Coming Together and Music for America.

"The artists that put a lot of their hearts and minds into this felt very disappointed," Toomey said. "The ones that have more history as activists bounced back faster. I think some people want to wash their hands of it all . . . and we'll have to work on changing their minds."

West expects many new celebrity activists to keep a low profile for a while, before returning to less controversial roles. Ocean's Twelve star George Clooney has kicked off another public feud with Fox News Channel blowhard Bill O'Reilly, for example - over a widely hailed two-hour fundraiser for tsunami relief that will air on NBC.

Longtime Buddhist movie star Richard Gere, for example, appeared in spots aired on Arab TV outlets urging Palestinians to participate in this month's presidential election.

"Celebrities are much better at fundraising than persuasion," West added. "I think in the future, that's what they are going to stick to."

[Last modified January 16, 2005, 00:33:22]