Some celebrities choose to use their status as a platform to voice their opinions, sharing opinions on their social media accounts about their political views. This is almost always accompanied by a slew of comments advising the celebrity to “keep their opinions to themselves” and “stick to singing/acting”. There are even those who go so far as to say they won’t listen to that artist anymore or watch movies with an actor all because of conflicting political opinions. I find these comments to be extremely hypocritical.

As cliché as it sounds, celebrities are people just like us. We are all entitled to our own opinion, including about politics. Telling a celebrity “stick to their career instead of politics” for sharing an opinion is like telling anyone who does not work in politics to just do their job and not have a political view. A job is a job, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a politician or not—everyone can have an opinion. Additionally, those who threaten to “boycott” the celebrity over their views needs a refresher in “treat others as you want to be treated”. Would it be okay if someone decides to never speak to someone again simply for disagreeing? That’s not a very tolerant way to handle conflicting opinions. Instead, learning to accept that it’s okay that not everyone has the same beliefs teaches coexistence and supports diversity.

Overall, I think that people who act this way to celebrities sharing their opinions need to reanalyze their reactions. It is not a fault of the celebrity to share their opinion—everyone has one, and everyone can make their voices heard. Instead of focusing on the differences, it is important to remember acceptance and not being judgemental.