Today, this dynamic seems terribly outdated.
Because, frankly: why on earth should we care who an actor, a director, a footballer or a singer votes for?
It is perfectly normal for them to have political convictions. It is their absolute right to express them. A celebrity is still a citizen just like anyone else. The problem arises when their fame automatically turns their personal opinion into national news.
Does an actor know more about the economy simply because he acts brilliantly? Does a director have particular expertise on pensions simply because he has won the Palme d’Or? Does a brilliant striker become a geopolitical expert just because he scores thirty goals a season?
Obviously not.
And yet, with every major election, the same ritual begins anew. So-and-so announces how they’ll vote. An actress writes an opinion piece. A singer calls for a ‘block’ vote against someone. A sportsman explains what people should think. Then social media goes into overdrive for twenty-four hours.
But the world has changed.
We now live in a world saturated with opinions. Everyone has their own Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube or Facebook account. Millions of citizens comment directly on politics without needing to go through established artists or intellectuals to access the public sphere.
The voice of a celebrity has therefore lost some of its exceptional status.
And above all, there is no reason to believe that a celebrity’s stance automatically transforms their admirers into disciplined voters. Political scientist Kevin DeLuca explained to the Harvard Gazette that, in a highly polarised presidential election where the candidates are already extremely well-known, it is particularly difficult for a celebrity to persuade someone to switch sides. Any potential effects seem more likely to relate to voter mobilisation or registration than to outright political conversion.
This is an important distinction.
A highly popular figure can indeed draw attention to an election. They can remind their fans to register or go out and vote. Initiatives in the US have shown that this kind of mobilisation can produce measurable results: notably, a post by Taylor Swift encouraging voter registration led to a spectacular surge in traffic to Vote.org in 2018.
But mobilising is not the same as convincing.
And this is precisely where the old fantasy of celebrities ‘telling people how to vote’ seems increasingly outdated.
You can love someone’s films and hate their political views. You can have been listening to a singer for thirty years and vote exactly the opposite way to them. You can admire a footballer without expecting the slightest hint from them about who to vote for.
In fact, it’s probably quite healthy.
After all, celebrity already carries enormous symbolic power: visibility, access to the media, a massive audience, and the ability to bring certain issues to the fore in public debate. However, there is no reason to confuse this media power with any particular political competence.
What has become irritating, therefore, is not necessarily that celebrities give their opinions.
It is that the media sometimes continue to treat these opinions as if they carried more weight than those of a baker, a nurse, a teacher, a tradesperson or any other citizen.
‘So-and-so will vote for X.’
Very well.
So what?
One might even wonder whether the constant repetition of these statements does not sometimes have the opposite effect to that intended. Research into political endorsements shows that the signals sent out by a public figure can have varying effects depending on the voters and the context; they certainly do not function as a simple transfer of authority from a well-known person to their audience.
We are no longer in the era when three television channels and a few major newspapers were virtually the sole shapers of the national conversation. The public can compare, research, challenge, verify, listen to ten different analyses and form their own judgement.
So yes, let actors speak.
Let film-makers speak.
Let sportspeople speak.
Let singers speak.
But let’s stop systematically turning their political opinions into news events.
A celebrity has the right to vote just like everyone else.
They have the right to say who they’re voting for.
And we have exactly the same right to reply:
‘Very well. But I’ll continue to think for myself.’
