Music stars such as Bruce Springsteen or Taylor Swift criticize Donald Trump in their performances. He retaliates on social media.
Donald Trump has entered into another battle. This time with American music legends such as Bruce Springsteen or Taylor Swift. The only reason is - they dared to criticize him and support the opponent. They are definitely not alone. A similar situation is common, for example in our country too.
U.S. President Donald Trump has recently accused Democrat Kamala Harris of paying celebrities like Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Bono, or Oprah Winfrey to express support for her during her last year's presidential campaign.
According to him, the singer Beyoncé was supposed to get 11 million dollars, which is more than 240 million crowns in conversion, "to step on the stage, quickly express support for Kamala and leave under loud booing without singing a single song".
Trump supposedly will demand a thorough investigation, claiming that this is illegal election fraud.
Boss labeled Trump as unfit
All of this is happening after the icon of American music, Bruce Springsteen, nicknamed Boss in the music industry, began expressing opposition to Trump's administration policies on his current tour. For example, at a concert in Manchester, he labeled the current president of the United States as unfit for office and his government as corrupt and treasonous.
The White House chief, however, did not take kindly to this and accused Springsteen of being "untalented" and is actually just a "dried prune" and should therefore "shut his mouth", as the CNN television reminded.
In defense of the American singer, a number of popular personalities have already emerged. For example, the former frontman of the band Led Zeppelin Robert Plant, who performed in Finland, discussed the ongoing public dispute with the local audience.
Taylor Swift is also a target
Trump also took a swipe at singer Taylor Swift, stating the following:
"Has anyone noticed that ever since I said I hate Taylor Swift, she's not so hot anymore?",
as also reported by NBC. The reason was probably the fact that Swift in the fall campaign supported both Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.
The current head of the United States has had disputes with artists before. The reason was the use of their music during the election campaign of the Republican candidate. He used songs by Neil Young, Céline Dion, and bands ABBA and Foo Fighters at party gatherings. All those mentioned objected to this. The only one who has so far succeeded in court is the soul duo Sam & Dave with the song Hold On, I´m Coming, written by Isaac Hayes.
Golden Karel was supposed to help Zeman
We have also seen attempts to manipulate public opinion through famous artists in the past. Before the second round of the presidential elections in 2018, Miloš Zeman referred to the alleged support of singer Karel Gott.
"I am grateful for any help and support. I was very pleased to notice that diverse personalities such as Andrej Babiš on one hand and Karel Gott on the other expressed their support for me before the elections,"
Zeman said then to the journalists at the press conference.
But the artist denied this immediately.
"As always, in all elections, I did not support any candidate by name. That is why I do not comment on their statements,"
Gott sent a message through his spokesperson, according to the server tn.cz.
Recently, some musicians, for example, have bet on Okamura's SPD, which lent their voice to Petr Kolář or Olívie Žižková. From the past, Lucie Bílá's admiration for Václav Klaus is particularly known when he reached the presidential post. With time, her then statement to this veteran political matador may seem a bit amusing:
"I would like to thank him from the bottom of my heart for who he is, as well as for what he's like, and I want to let him know that I would fight for him like a tiger,"
This Golden Nightingale mentioned this fifteen years ago in the newspaper Blesk.
Placing a bet on a star may not always pay off
There are several reasons why politicians seek the protection of famous faces. The main one is to mobilize undecided voters. Black presenter Oprah Winfrey was reportedly able to bring Obama around a million of them in 2008. Famous personalities can focus public attention on issues they find important.
The mentioned support, however, can sometimes be quite tricky, because these people are not able to speak competently about many things. Critics also talk about the fact that the overall tone of campaigns sometimes looks too elitist, thus distant from the problems of ordinary people. Which is a serious problem at a time when the influence of traditional media is rather declining. Many voters also live in their own opinion bubble, from which they do not intend to step out.
Politicians play different cards. One of them is also celebrities, including musicians. We cannot avoid this even in the era of digital media, when communication with individual target groups is becoming increasingly virtual.
Sources: CNN, NBC, Blesk, tn.cz
