Josh Duhamel is facing backlash after suggesting that actors should not wade into politics.
The actor, 53, who has largely refrained from speaking politically, made his stance on his peers sharing their beliefs clear during an appearance on Megyn Kelly’s conservative podcast show.
“If you really want to be successful in this business, why would you make half of your audience despise you by your beliefs? Maybe they don’t care. I don’t know,” Duhamel said.
Duhamel said that he has “real strong opinions about things,” but chooses not to talk about them: “It’s like, ‘Why would I alienate half my audience?’ Because I respect their views on things, but I’m not going to preach to them.
“They can believe what they want to believe,” the Transformers star added. “I’m just here to, you know, make cool stuff.”
Making the case for staying silent as a “business decision,” he explained: “I’m here just to make cool movies, cool TV… I’m the court jester, you know? If I want to preach to you about what I believe politically, I will go run for office, which I’m not [going to do].”
Many fans have criticized Duhamel’s comments as hypocritical, given that they were made on Kelly’s eponymous podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show, where the former Fox News anchor offers right-wing commentary on current events and politics.
“I always refuse to reveal my political beliefs whenever I appear on Megyn Kelly’s show,” one person quipped on X.
A second labeled him a “typical GOP hypocrite,” while a third agreed: “Says it while being interviewed by Megyn Kelly. Yeah, that tells you everything.”
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“He’s literally on a platform preaching, giving his opinion,” another argued. “He’s telling celebrities what they shouldn’t say. It’s the equivalent of shut up and dribble.”
The Ransom Canyon actor is not the only celebrity to question the crossover between Hollywood and politics.
Last November, Jennifer Lawrence insisted that celebrities “do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for.”
When asked on The New York Times’ The Interview podcast about speaking out against the Trump administration after publishing an op-ed following his first election, the Hunger Games star admitted: “The first Trump administration was so wild, and just how can we let this stand? I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
“But as we’ve learned, election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for,” Lawrence said. “So then what am I doing? I’m just sharing my opinion on something that’s going to add fuel to a fire that’s ripping the country apart. We are so divided.”
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