Lady Gaga, Madonna, Jay-Z, And Beyonce: How Celebrities Hurt Hillary Clinton’s Campaign


In 2003, when celebrities such as Susan Sarandon, Madonna, the Dixie Chicks, and others spoke out against the Iraq War, their careers were temporarily hurt. They were called anti-American and traitors. It really reminded some people of the McCarthy Era in the 1950s.

However, it ended up that a lot of these celebrities were on the right side of history. Just one year later, it was discovered that the United States went into Iraq under false pretenses — there were no weapons of mass destruction.

Thirteen years later, celebrities are still getting into the political ring. However, one can argue that this time, their influence is hurting the causes they are trying to promote. They absolutely failed to get Hillary Clinton elected.

Misconstrued or not, this image of Lady Gaga turned off a lot of people. [Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

Let’s take Lady Gaga, for example. As the Inquisitr reported, many believe the Michael Jackson/Nazi jacket she wore to a North Carolina rally with Hillary Clinton hurt Clinton’s campaign, although that can not actually be measured as a fact. Gaga did not mean any harm, but pictures of her in the jacket holding hands with Hillary Clinton made their way everywhere in social media. It doesn’t matter that Gaga’s intentions were to pay tribute to Michael Jackson, especially because many still associate the King of Pop with pedophilia.

Then, there’s Madonna, who never gets enough credit for her pivotal influence in the gay rights movement. As the most powerful celebrity of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Madonna openly supported gay men while raising awareness for AIDS (long before it was “cool” to do so). She also spoke out against the dangers of homophobia on national television in 1991 — this was a time when the influence of the religious right was at its peak.

While Madonna’s gay rights activism is undervalued, so is her crude sense of humor. As a matter of fact, when Madonna did an opening comedy skit at a recent Amy Schumer concert, the Inquisitr and other sources noted that she offered oral sex to those who voted for Hillary Clinton. Of course, Madonna was joking — but in today’s literal social media world, it didn’t come out that way. She was accused of being a “whore,” and some said Madge was bringing back the women’s movement 100 years. As expected, many outlets took her comments out of context to make Hillary Clinton look bad.

Then, we have Jay-Z. He may be idolized in the hip-hop community, but is controversial outside of it. Business Insider reported on an event that he appeared at with Hillary Clinton last weekend.

“The rapper repeatedly used the n-word and dropped the f-bomb as he performed ‘F—WithMeYouKnowIGotIt’ and his hit ‘Dirt off Your Shoulder’ song at a Cleveland rally. ‘You’re tuned into the motherf—– greatest,’ a voice said as Jay Z appeared onstage.”

The article added that Jay-Z also performed “Jigga My N—-,” in which he boasted that he was “Jay-Z, motherf——-!” Of course, that’s just Jay-Z being himself, and his fans love his sense of crudeness and irony to make a point. But voters who saw the videos of him performing like this, especially with Hillary Clinton taking the stage afterwards, certainly missed the point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmLaiBAqGz8

Jay-Z’s wife, Beyonce, appeared as well. Reading mainstream media reports, one would think that Beyonce is 100 percent loved. Unfortunately, many people don’t appreciate Bey’s talents and see her (perhaps wrongly so) as anti-American, especially after she performed “Formation” at the Super Bowl, which some people thought was influenced by the Black Panthers. Many people also see Beyonce as being a complete hypocrite about feminism. Right or wrong, it doesn’t help that Hillary Clinton aligned with her.

Celebrities such as Bob Marley, Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, and others have made a huge positive difference to the political landscape in the past. Telling them to “shut up and sing” is anti-American. However, major political figures should realize that using controversial celebrities for their campaigns can backfire. Hillary Clinton just learned that lesson.

[Featured Image by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images]

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