They can't help themselves.
Give a celebrity a microphone, platform or a stage resembling a soap box, and they'll act like they just won an election by a landslide.
My fellow citizens ...
We're seeing it in real time at the Cannes Film Festival. The august event brings out some of Hollywood' best and brightest. It also lets them wax on without fact checks or interruptions.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
The festival allowed Oscar winner Javier Bardem to rage against the dying of the Israeli state without fear of a single pushback. That's exactly what he's done this week, in lie of promoting his new projects or breaking down his craft.
That would be interesting. He's a brilliant actor with considerable range. Instead, Bardem trotted out the false "genocide" card against Israel.
It doesn't help that film journalists tee up the stars to get political, hoping they share their left-leaning views and get them more clicks. Bardem was only too happy to oblige. The star, promoting his new film, "The Beloved," claimed the industry blacklist against pro-Palestinian actors won't stand for long.
As if it ever truly started.
“The fear does exist, granted, but one has to do things even if you feel a bit scared or afraid ...You have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror, look at yourself in the eyes and that was my case. My mother taught me to be the way I am. There is no plan B. This entails consequences, which I am fully ready to shoulder.”
Bardem's personal sacrifice? He's the star of "The Beloved," headlines the new Apple TV+ reboot of "Cape Fear," will appear in "Dune 3" this winter among his current and future project.
Some blacklist. James Woods would like a word with Bardem.
Bardem wasn't finished, though. He also blased President Donald Trump for flexing his "toxic masculinity." That's the kind of bold, subversive commentary that could get him in trouble, career wise.
He might start getting too many job offers all at once.
Meanwhile, Cate Blanchett joined Bardem's pro-Palestinian stance, going so far as to suggest film festivals are the only place where such discussions can be had.
Guessing she hasn't dropped by a university campus in ages ... or the set of MS NOW. She also mourned the untimely death of the MeToo movement, ignoring the role her peers had in its unraveling.
Oscar-winner Julianne Moore used her Cannes appearances to push her feminist bona fides. It seems film sets aren't gender balanced enough. Still.
We're pretty far away, honestly, in lots of the world in terms of real gender equality ... It's not something that is endemic to the film industry. It's something that's a global issue.
And then there's Adam Driver. The "Star Wars" alum got pressed by Cannes journalists on relevations shared by Lena Dunham about their tiime together on the HBO series "Girls." She complained that he threw a chair near her and acted aggressively during a scene.
I have no comment on any of that. I’m saving it all for my book.
Sometimes, less is so much more from celebrities.
