Kurt Russell was very forthcoming in an interview, explaining why Hollywood stars should stay out of politics. In fact, he surprised many in the Hollywood crowd with his views on their actions.<\/p>\n
Kurt Russell believes Hollywood stars should stay out of the political realm, and he made that crystal clear during an interview with The New York Times. The Overboard actor, who identifies as a \u201chardcore libertarian,\u201d admitted his opinion on politics varies greatly from most Hollywood celebrities and entertainers.<\/p>\n
Russell was reacting to the controversial climate, where many Hollywood celebs are weighing in on politics, and he thinks that voicing such opinions is \u201cdetrimental\u201d to actors. \u201cI\u2019ve always been someone who felt we are court jesters. That\u2019s what we do,\u201d Russell said. \u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, you should step away from saying anything so that you can still be seen by the audience in any character.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kurt Russell in the 2015 film The Hateful Eight (Credit: YouTube)
\n\u201cThere\u2019s no reason entertainers can\u2019t learn just as much as anybody else about a subject, whatever it is,\u201d Russell continued. \u201cBut I think that what\u2019s sad about it is that they lose their status as a court jester. And I\u2019m a court jester. That\u2019s what I was born to do.\u201d Russell, who started out as a child actor in Hollywood in 1962, appears to be sending a message to Hollywood celebrities, especially comedians.<\/p>\n
When it comes to Hollywood comedians who have transitioned into using a widely seen platform to push their personal politics, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar come to mind. Goldberg refused to say Donald Trump\u2019s name during his presidency, instead referring to the 45th president as \u201cyou know who.\u201d According to CNN, Goldberg said that she \u201ccan\u2019t\u201d use Trump\u2019s name in conjunction with the word \u201cPresident,\u201d even though she knows that \u201cpeople don\u2019t like that I don\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Joy Behar called Donald Trump \u201ca domestic terrorist,\u201d and Goldberg and Behar haven\u2019t limited their political opinions to just Trump. The pair blasted Republicans Sarah Palin and Kimberly Klacick while openly supporting Democrats like Barack Obama and Joe Biden. According to Kurt Russell, comedians, who are our modern-day court jesters, lose their very important function in our society when they cross over into airing their own political beliefs.<\/p>\n
\u201cA court jester isn\u2019t always funny,\u201d The Hateful Eight star said. \u201cA court jester is the only one who can walk into the castle and put the king down as long as he doesn\u2019t hit too close to home. I think that\u2019s been a big, important part of all cultures throughout history, and I\u2019d like to see it stay in ours.\u201d Russell is referring to \u201cthe Fool,\u201d which dates back to William Shakespeare\u2019s King Lear, whose purpose was to make the king laugh, yet in reality, \u201cthe Fool\u201d uses irony and sarcasm to point out the monarch\u2019s faults as no one else can.<\/p>\n
Young Kurt Russell made his film debut in the 1963 Elvis Presley movie It Happened at the World\u2019s Fair (Credit: YouTube)
\nDuring an interview on The View, Kurt Russell was asked by Whoopi Goldberg about gun control and where he stands on the Second Amendment. \u201cThe last thing I like to watch is entertainers or actors get political,\u201d Russell began. \u201cIt\u2019s just something I can\u2019t stand watching.\u201d The longtime actor then explained that he had \u201cbegrudgingly made comments\u201d on gun control after he was \u201cambushed\u201d in an interview about the gun violence in The Hateful Eight.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo having said that, I was kind of asked to put it in context somehow with this movie,\u201d Russell said<\/p>\n
. \u201cIn reality, when we\u2019re dealing with things like terrorism, we\u2019re all going to have different opinions on how to do it, how to deal with it. Mine happens to be, that I think there\u2019s a very strong reason the Founding Fathers had for the Second Amendment and that is that no government ever hasn\u2019t had to fight its own people. I think that\u2019s an important part of our existence.\u201d
\nMany may agree or disagree with Kurt Russell\u2019s take on topics like gun control, but his statements on court jesters no longer having a positive effect on our nation has merits. When a comedian\u2019s own political beliefs take precedence over entertaining an audience, they can lose what made them great and relevant. Oftentimes, they end up sounding like a broken record of hate.<\/p>\n
There are those Americans who long for the heyday when comedic actors such as Don Rickles and Dean Martin would \u201croast\u201d celebrities and politicians. Even in the early days of Saturday Night Live, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, <\/p>\n
and the rest of the first SNL cast members had Americans in stitches with their routines on politics because it was done in good taste, while they kept their own political views out of the limelight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kurt Russell was very forthcoming in an interview, explaining why Hollywood stars should stay out of politics. In fact, he surprised many in the Hollywood crowd with… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n