Current Events > Ricky Gervais to celebs: Don't get political. Accept your award and fuck off.

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https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/476871-ricky-gervais-tells-golden-globes-audience-not-to-get-political

Ricky Gervais is urging winners not to get political at the Golden Globes, quipping that celebrities are in no position to lecture the public about anything. If you do win an award tonight, dont use it as a platform to make a political speech, the Golden Globes host said Sunday at the 77th annual awards show in Los Angeles. You know nothing about the real world, the comedian told the A-list-packed audience. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg, Gervais said, referring to the 17-year-old climate activist. So if you win, Gervais advised the nights winners, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god and f--- off. Thats it, Gervais, 58, added to laughs. Hollywood awards shows have taken on an increasingly political tone over the years, with many performers using their acceptance speeches to rail against President Trump or focus on hot-button issues.




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I mean... he's not wrong.

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I don't have any reason to believe the average celebrity knows less about public policy than the average politician

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While I don't necessarily agree with his message. I do think it is disingenuous to leave off beginning part of the joke where he mocks the ethics of working for companies like Apple or Amazon.

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He killed it. It didn't stop people with their giant boobs hanging out from lecturing us though.

Nazanir posted...

I mean... he's not wrong.

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He's 100% right. Fuck shoving politics into every facet of everything >_>
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"Shut up and dribble" part 2.

I do agree with his point that most of these people are out of touch with regular people and probably can't relate to them but they still get to have opinions. If out of touch rich a** hole Donald Trump is allowed to get political and even become president other celebs can to.

He did seem to be saying it about actors who work for companies that have deplorable practises then try to act as if they have some moral high ground to tell the average person what to do.

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To bad they didn't listen. Didn't some woman get up there and brag that if she hadn't had an abortion she wouldn't be famous?

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Balrog0 posted...

I don't have any reason to believe the average celebrity knows less about public policy than the average politician

Yeah, and they have a platform, so they may as well use it for good.

he's right. its cause of lame shit like this that i barely give any fucks about these award shows.

Balrog0 posted...

I don't have any reason to believe the average celebrity knows less about public policy than the average politician

You don't? Really?

Did anyone give a political speech after he said that?

lets be real: how much of a difference have celebrities made with their little award accepting speeches?

not trying to be a cynical asshole or whatever, just trying to ask a legit question...

Balrog0 posted...

I don't have any reason to believe the average celebrity knows less about public policy than the average politician

Politicians are certainly stupid

But the average celebrity combines that stupidity with an insane amount of money, giving them a lethal combination of impostor syndrome and cognitive dissonance. The justification to help ease the impostor syndrome comes in the form of "I must be smart and my opinions must be valuable" therefore I will use my platform I gained by pretending to be someone else, and I'll just be myself.

They all need to go study an actual problem and really (like, really actually) learn about it and its nuances instead of reading a wiki article like most people do for whatever hot button issue is in the public discourse. All it really takes is seeing the nuance of one item to realize you don't know shit about anything (no one does) and the world is far to complicated to be giving "hot takes" on anything really.

ArchNemo posted...

You don't? Really?

A lot of actors have causes that they are passionate about and that they do humanitarian work related to while not shooting movies. I would wager that a healthy majority of them do. While they may not be qualified to speak on every subject I believe that a lot of actors would be equally if not more knowledgeable on the subjects related to their particular passion projects than many politicians would be.

ArchNemo posted...

You don't? Really?

I really don't!

Romes187 posted...

Politicians are certainly stupid

But the average celebrity combines that stupidity with an insane amount of money, giving them a lethal combination of impostor syndrome and cognitive dissonance. The justification to help ease the impostor syndrome comes in the form of "I must be smart and my opinions must be valuable" therefore I will use my platform I gained by pretending to be someone else, and I'll just be myself.

They all need to go study an actual problem and really (like, really actually) learn about it and its nuances instead of reading a wiki article like most people do for whatever hot button issue is in the public discourse. All it really takes is seeing the nuance of one item to realize you don't know shit about anything (no one does) and the world is far to complicated to be giving "hot takes" on anything really.

it's not even about stupidity per se, most politicians had careers outside public policy. For example, there are many farmers in my state legislature. Why should I think a bunch of farmers know more than a bunch of actors?

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That's the right thing to do.
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politics *are* in everything and pretending to be too cool or aloof to join conversations about enormous issues that affect all of us, like climate change and war, is really just insecurity and fear manifesting themselves

That's his opinion.

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Omnislasher posted...

politics *are* in everything and pretending to be too cool or aloof to join conversations about enormous issues that affect all of us, like climate change and war, is really just insecurity and fear manifesting themselves

pretty good post

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Balrog0 posted...

I really don't!

it's not even about stupidity per se, most politicians had careers outside public policy. For example, there are many farmers in my state legislature. Why should I think a bunch of farmers know more than a bunch of actors?

I don't doubt there are farmers in your state legislature that are stupid as well

But Hollywood is filled with even dumber folk.

maybe my rub is that I wish people would idolize actual thinkers like they do celebs...but they won't.

and rogo your question depends on what the public policy is

if its about farming...well id trust the farmers

but at least they were voted on for their opinion

if you watch any tv of any kind, apparently you get hollywood's opinions shoved down your throat

Tenlaar posted...

A lot of actors have causes that they are passionate about and that they do humanitarian work related to while not shooting movies. I would wager that a healthy majority of them do. While they may not be qualified to speak on every subject I believe that a lot of actors would be equally if not more knowledgeable on the subjects related to their particular passion projects than many politicians would be.

I'm passionate about animals, that doesn't make me a vet. And for every celebrity who has a passion for something, there's someone whose job it is is to (in theory) know as much as possible about it to make informed decisions about it that effect everyone.

Keep in mind he said the average person in each of these groups. On average, people whose lives revolve around politics are going to know more about politics.

ArchNemo posted...

I'm passionate about animals, that doesn't make me a vet.

what do you think it is about politicians that make them experts on public policy?

ArchNemo posted...

And for every celebrity who has a passion for something, there's someone whose job it is is to (in theory) know as much as possible about it to make informed decisions about it that effect everyone.

bolded seems pretty key!

ArchNemo posted...

Keep in mind he said the average person in each of these groups. On average, people whose lives revolve around politics are going to know more about politics.

They are pretty knowledgeable about the tasks they need to complete to get re-elected in their districts, generally.

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also, let's say that you do think farmers should be trusted to know about public policies that impact farming or veterinarians to understand public policies that impact their practices

1) do you actually carry that logic to its conclusion? e.g., you listen to teachers when they talk about education? most people will be selective in answering this question and there will be at least some groups they wouldn't trust, because of things like conflicts of interest

2) that still means each politician has a very narrow range of expertise

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If actors shouldn't talk about politics because they're just average citizens with non-political jobs, that means basically nobody should talk about politics because basically everybody is just an average citizen with a non-political job. Which is bullshit logic. These average non-political citizens are the ones who vote on which politicians to employ. They should absolutely pay attention to and discuss political issues.

And celebrities obviously have an impact on politics. Trump is all the proof you need (unfortunately).
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I'm not saying that some actors might not know more than some politicians. But on average? Someone who works with something every day and is expected to have a working knowledge of it is, on average, going to know more than somebody who isn't.

TheOnionKnight posted...

If actors shouldn't talk about politics because they're just average citizens with non-political jobs, that means basically nobody should talk about politics because basically everybody is just an average citizen with a non-political job. Which is bullshit logic. These average non-political citizens are the ones who vote on which politicians to employ. They should absolutely pay attention to and discuss political issues.

And celebrities obviously have an impact on politics. Trump is all the proof you need (unfortunately).

Most people don't generally have millions of people listening to their opinions.

Nice

ArchNemo posted...

I'm not saying that some actors might not know more than some politicians. But on average? Someone who works with something every day and is expected to have a working knowledge of it is, on average, going to know more than somebody who isn't.

what are politicians working on every day and expected to have working knowledge of?

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Balrog0 posted...

what are politicians working on every day and expected to have working knowledge of?

Depends on the area of public policy you're talking about I would think.

Kinda hypocritical because most of his standup is political commentary. And when a lot of the movies that were up for awards had pretty blatant political messages I don't think this was the best place to say this.
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ArchNemo posted...

But on average? Someone who works with something every day and is expected to have a working knowledge of it is, on average, going to know more than somebody who isn't.

"Politics" is not a singular subject that you can talk about that way. Politicians don't get to focus on one subject that they are passionate about, they have to deal in a wide variety of areas and what is the most important for them to focus on at any given time isn't really their choice. By your own logic an actor that is able to spend their significant free time focused on a singular issue would be the more knowledgeable on that particular subject.

Tell em Ricky!

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Smashingpmkns posted...

Kinda hypocritical because most of his standup is political commentary. And when a lot of the movies that were up for awards had pretty blatant political messages I don't think this was the best place to say this.

Sounds like the best place to call them out on their hypocripsy.

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The hate towards celebrities giving their political opinions is so funny when the US has had celebrities as elected officials.

It just sounds like some people are really upset when a celebrity gives an opinion they don't agree with.

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They should stick to thanking people they admire like Harvey Weinstein. No wait, they should just shut up and fuck off.

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Tmaster148 posted...

The hate towards celebrities giving their political opinions is so funny when the US has had celebrities as elected officials.

It just sounds like some people are really upset when a celebrity gives an opinion they don't agree with.

Maybe when they stop working with and supporting deplorable people/companies their opinions on morality and "doing the right thing" may be vaguely worthiwhile to listen to.

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Funkydog posted...

Smashingpmkns posted...

Kinda hypocritical because most of his standup is political commentary. And when a lot of the movies that were up for awards had pretty blatant political messages I don't think this was the best place to say this.

Sounds like the best place to call them out on their hypocripsy.

Bong Joon ho is a crip and Martin Scorsese is a blood for sure
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ArchNemo posted...

Most people don't generally have millions of people listening to their opinions.

Bizarre logic. The average citizen is free to think about and talk about politics, until the average citizen has a platform that can reach many people. Then the average citizen has to shut up. Meanwhile, non-political celebrities like Trump can run media-fueled political campaigns. Yeah, no. More average people need to start talking about politics, not fewer.
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Tmaster148 posted...

The hate towards celebrities giving their political opinions is so funny when the US has had celebrities as elected officials.

this. as long as a moron reality tv star is president no one has the right to bitch at celebs
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TheOnionKnight posted...

Bizarre logic. The average citizen is free to think about and talk about politics, until the average citizen has a platform that can reach many people. Then the average citizen has to shut up. Meanwhile, non-political celebrities like Trump can run media-fueled political campaigns. Yeah, no. More average people need to start talking about politics, not fewer.

More average citizens should definitely talk about politics, but that's much different than someone parroting an opinion because Taylor Swift said it. When you're in a position where millions of people will listen to you simply because of your name, you should be careful what you say.

ArchNemo posted...

Depends on the area of public policy you're talking about I would think.

So give me an example of how a politicians work requires them to be knowledgeable about public policy if you can't give an answer in more general terms?

I'm just not quite sure what it is you're thinking as a process here. IMO you're acting like the politician as a person is kind of blackbox and politics as a job goes in one end and then policy knowledge comes out the other.

how many politicians do you know personally?


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ArchNemo posted...

More average citizens should definitely talk about politics, but that's much different than someone parroting an opinion because Taylor Swift said it. When you're in a position where millions of people will listen to you simply because of your name, you should be careful what you say.

"Be careful what you say" doesn't mean "shut up and say nothing."

It's especially ironic since Ricky Gervais is a celebrity using his platform to spout a political opinion. A dangerous political opinion that's sending the message that average people have no business thinking about politics.
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And finally, it's all a fucking joke. Don't take it too seriously.

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Omnislasher posted...

politics *are* in everything and pretending to be too cool or aloof to join conversations about enormous issues that affect all of us, like climate change and war, is really just insecurity and fear manifesting themselves

There's a difference between being aware of how politics can have an effect on our everyday living and being obsessed with it.

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PostCrisisJ2 posted...

There's a difference between being aware of how politics can have an effect on our everyday living and being obsessed with it.

pretty sure talking about politics when you're given a once in a lifetime platform falls under the former category rather than being obsessive

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