Entertainers Boycotting the Inauguration

It's almost to the point of censorship. I did not vote for Trump. But, our country is based on a peaceful transfer of power. We all need to accept that Trump will be the president.

I don't think we should be judging performers or anyone else.

Let's move on. We can hold Trump, Congress, and the Senate accountable for their actions or lack of action.

Her career depends on her fans. They are her bread and butter.

If she was asked but did not commit and Trump said she was performing before he knew, that's on him.

If she committed and her fans got vocal and she reconsidered, that is on her. But...it doesn't make her wrong. She decides when and where she performs and if she felt performing at the inauguration would hurt her career, she is within her rights to back out.

I was thinking about this last night. The last 6 presidents have all been likeable people outside of office. Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton, Bush Jr, and Obama have ALL been personable, loveable, likeable men. Most had strong family values and people genuinely liked them no matter if they agreed with their policies or how they governed.

Trump doesn't have that likeable persona. He is a bully, mean, a narcissist, sociopathic, and very rude. He is not a true family man; although he puts on a good show. 

Reagan was very well loved by people. Bush Jr was goofy and endearing in his own way, Bush Sr was well respected for his values, The Obamas are very personable and many love them as a couple etc etc...

Trump is a despiclple human being and that hurts him more than any Republican thing. People do not like him as a man at all.

This a 1000x

I am not a Republican but I have never been upset when a Republican has won. I have no respect whatsoever for Trump, furthermore he disgusts me.i think he has no common sense or ethics. He is not out to do what is good for the country but for himself. I will speak up against him when I feel he is in the wrong and I do not feel the need to support him when what he does goes against, in my opinion, the interest of the nation.

ITA. And I'm not sure I buy the "blacklisting" thing either. Blacklisting is like when the CONSERVATIVES ran Hollywood and we had the McCarthy era where people truly WERE blacklisted--unable to work, lost their jobs, some lost their lives. Yes, the Democrats are now the overwhelming majority in Hollywood. And yes, I'm sure there are some out there who feel strongly enough about their politics that they don't want to work with people on the opposing side, which is unfortunate. But the outspoken conservatives in Hollywood that I know of (Patricia Heaton, Sylvester Stallone, Vince Vaughn, Adam Sandler, etc.) have and continue to have flourishing careers. I DO agree though that Trump is another issue altogether. People may feel differently about those who outspokenly support Trump. This is not a party issue, it's a Trump issue, and honestly I get it.

Many of the celebrities who have been asked and have turned it down are the ones making it public...if they hadn't gone public with the information we'd never have known they were asked. They are making a deliberate choice to let us know their decision.
Meryl Streep didn't have a make her speech about Trump, she also chose to.
So they are the ones taking it to social media themselves or making very public statements and letting people know that they don't support Trump.
No-one is forcing them to.

No-one is being "silenced" either...with social media it's easy for celebrities to let us know their opinions on various topics, but the beauty of that is it's a two way street, in return they get to immediately hear what their fans think. If they make an unpopular statement or decision, then 5 minutes later they will know how a few thousand people feel about what they just said.

Personally I don't have a problem with that.

"Regretfully, I did not take into consideration that my performing for the concert would actually instead be taken as a political act against my own personal beliefs and be mistaken for support of Donald Trump and Mike Pence."

I thought the above was incredibly naïve of her. Even those who don’t regularly read or watch the news are acutely aware of Trump’s views and his character. Part of her initial defense for her performing was that “there’s so much hate,” a curiously disconnected justification considering that the man who will be inaugurated was and is the purveyor of said hate.

Of course her performing during the inauguration would be considered tacit support, not a “healing or unifying” act, regardless of what’s really in her heart. Any other time this would have been noncontroversial, maybe even lauded, but she couldn’t have been that shielded from current events not to know there would be backlash. Whether she was backpedaling or not, it was prudent of her to back out.

(The timing of her backing out was a godsend because if she had waited longer she would have landed right smack dab in the middle of Trump’s twitter blasting of the much-respected John Lewis. Then, she may have been forced to define what “hate” really means.)

I am more than a little dismayed by all this. I hesitate to even express my views on this as conservatives have pretty much stopped posting on political posts on this forum and I'm one of them. But I feel strongly enough about this that I'm going to take the chance. I wonder how Trump will ever be able to do his job with all the hate that has been thrown his way. Do I like him? Not particularly. Does he worry me? Yes. But I do not think he is the monster that he is being portrayed. Whether we like him or not he IS our president for the next four years (unless he is assassinated which I am beginning to believe is a strong possibility with all the hate that is thrown his way--and then everyone will gasp and say "We didn't mean it to go THAT far!!!).

There are many stars who would have performed (Andrea Bocelli is a good example) but received absolute death threats if they did! This is wrong in every conceivable way. So YOU don't like him! Fine. But you (general you) have NO RIGHT to try to stop others from being part of his big day. And make no mistake--that is exactly what is happening. I am disgusted by the plans to keep people from attending the Inauguration. Donald Trump won the election. Every other president in history has been allowed an Inauguration Day. It is part of our political process.

From death threats to implied threats of destruction of careers if one has anything to do with Trump--this is so un-American I can't believe it. Defend it all you want, but I am telling you that by doing so, YOU are part of what is tearing this country apart.

Seriously--I didn't even know 3 Doors Down was still a band. I can only imagine this publicity will help--not hurt them--

It would be interesting to know how many people felt the same about the Dixie Chicks.

While it would be great for people who want to perform to perform, if you make your living selling a product to the public you have to weigh whether or not it's worth risking your career to stand out.  The Dixie Chicks took a stand and were immediately boycotted and vilified in the conservative media and by politicians who thought that it was unpatriotic to criticize the president.  I heard almost NO conservative voices speaking out on their behalf that they were expressing their rights as citizens.  It was almost a monolith of negative press against them - how DARE they say anything about the president that wasn't 100% pro-Bush!!!!

Everyone has freedom of speech and the freedom to perform if they wish.  But as we have seen again and again, there are often economic consequences.  If you are willing to pay that price - or if you think that for every person that boycotts, you'll add an equal number on the opposite side that seek you out and buy your product.  Chick-fil-A chooses to be known as a conservative company and people choose to eat or not eat there accordingly.  Hobby Lobby is very openly Christian, and some people don't shop there because of it - while others specifically go out of their way to shop there.  Green Day is very liberal and vocal about it - if you don't like hearing that sort of thing, you likely won't find their concerts enjoyable.  All of these organizations have weighed their options and chosen to speak out politically. 

I have to add that I don't think it would be as big a deal if it were any other Republican taking office.  People aren't mad because Trump is conservative.  People are mad because they think that Trump is a vile human being.  If you have friends or family who are LGBTQ/immigrants/disabled/female, you may well feel that attending this inauguration shows disrespect to them and to what America stands for.  As the singer from the MoTab Choir said, she didn't want to be remembered as someone who "threw roses to Hitler."
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I call BS on this. The country is pretty evenly divided liberal/conservative. So, let's say when an entertainer comes out as one or the other, they lose 50% of their fans. They still have the other 50%. Unless he is claiming that we liberals are so filled with hate that we are willing to tear down anyone who doesn't believe the same way we do. But conservatives are much more open-minded and would never do that....

Hollywood is overwhelmingly liberal. It just is. The type of personality it takes to put yourself out there and be artistic and creative just tends to lean more left.  I have no scientific research to back this up, and I am not implying that you CANNOT be both an artist and conservative--I just think NATURALLY more tend to lean liberal. So I do not believe there are hoards of conservatives hiding their beliefs in fear that their career will be ended...

Also, if the Trump camp announced she was performing before she actually committed, that is a YUGE error on their part. Tremendous.