Due to having the United States midterm elections quite recently, it’s come to my attention that there are two types of people on social media: those who are outraged when Hollywood celebrities do not voice their opinions and those who can not stand hearing said opinions.

Throughout voting periods for the midterms, celebrities as big as Beyonce, Rihanna, Will Ferrell, Oprah Winfrey, Lebron James, and more, openly voiced their support for Democratic runners, like Beto O’Rourke and Stacey Abrams, in the election. However, several news outlets and social media platforms, like FOX and Twitter, have made it very clear of their opinion that celebrity endorsement is ineffective and that the general public does not want to hear it.

The phrase, “Quiet, please! Hollywood is speaking again!” was posted all over twitter as several celebrities shared their beliefs and candidate preferences. One of the main arguments that the public has made on social media in the past to support their belief that celebrities should stay silent is that celebrities are only meant to entertain.

Although many have supported the “anti-celebrity endorsement” movement, a good portion of people tend to send backlash to celebrities when they do not use their platforms to voice their opinions on politics and the importance of voting.

Singer and Songwriter Taylor Swift is a proper portrayal of a celebrity who gets backlash no matter what she shares and does not share online. On voting day, Swift decided to share an Instagram post endorsing Phil Bredesen, Tennessee's Democratic candidate for Senate while denouncing Republican, Marsha Blackburn, after many years of her political silence throughout her career. Before Swift broke her silence, many people did not choose to support her because she kept her political opinions to herself. But even after, Swift received hate from others asking her to keep her opinions to herself.

By looking from another perspective, I can understand why people would believe that celebrity endorsement would be ineffective because these stars do not have actual authority over our lives, but having those with larger platforms voice their opinions can be important. In my opinion, celebrities like Reese Witherspoon, Mandy Moore, Ryan Reynolds, and others are using their platforms in the best way: by not pushing their beliefs onto their followers, but also encouraging people to go out and vote!

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