Country music superstar Kenny Chesney spoke with Bill Maher on Monday about why he personally rejects the idea of celebrities telling people who to vote for.
In talk show host Bill Maher’s podcast ‘Club Random’, Chesney asked the host if he is a fan of rock star Bruce Springsteen, who, like Maher, is from New Jersey.
Maher confirmed that he is a fan of him, but then seemed to regret that he immediately started seeing Springsteen in a political context. Springsteen has been one of the most outspoken liberal celebrities in recent years, to the point that he faced backlash for alienating some of his own fans and leading an anti-Trump “No Kings” tour.
“I just refuse it. When I came on your show in November, I was very grateful that you knew I didn’t want to talk about that,” Chesney said.
Maher noted that, like his show, he is multi-dimensional in that he likes to talk to different people about different topics, and that California Governor Gavin Newsom, as a presidential candidate, is a person he could talk to more specifically about political matters.
“I just never felt like this was my place,” Chesney said about talking politics publicly.
“It’s not always everyone’s place,” Maher agreed. “You’re right.”
As a celebrity, Chesney noted, “I think there’s a certain ego that lives in there and a certain box in your mind and soul that you have to check for some reason to think you can make a difference.”
Maher agreed that celebrities need to keep that in check, and mocked the mentality of, “You can make a difference by speaking out.”
“I think they’ve actually studied this. When celebrities talk, I think it has the opposite effect,” he argued.
“I agree,” Chesney replied. He later added, “I’ve never seen it as my place to use my stage or platform, wherever I play, to tell people how to think or how to vote. Like they hear that. They get that everywhere else. Everywhere on every device. Every network. They’re there as an escape from all that stuff.”
Maher had initially hyped that musician Taylor Swift could “save democracy” with her support in the 2024 election, but following the defeat of former Vice President Kamala Harris, he has become a critic of celebrity political rhetoric, which he describes as counterproductive.
During an interview with John Mellencamp in February, Maher noted, “The Democrats, I mean — for people who haven’t seen it — the point was you have to let go of your celebrities. You think they’re helping, and they’re actually hurting you, because people don’t see celebrities in any way as if they can relate to their lives, and there’s no way they can.”
“The other funny thing is, you know, most people, you know… We don’t know anything. You know, we don’t know…,” Mellencamp said. “We don’t know what’s really going on. We don’t know, you know, and it’s always been that way since I can remember.”
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