Country music superstar Kenny Chesney spoke to Bill Maher on Monday about why he personally rejects the idea that celebrities should tell people who to vote for.
On talk show host Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast, Chesney asked the host whether he is a fan of rock star Bruce Springsteen, who, like Maher, is from New Jersey.
Maher confirmed that he is a fan of his, but then appeared to regret that he immediately began to think of Springsteen in a political context. Springsteen is one of the most outspoken liberal celebrities in recent years, to the point he faced blowback for alienating some of his own fans and has led an anti-Trump “No Kings” tour.
“I just refuse to do it. I was very thankful when I came on your show in November that you knew I didn’t want to talk about that,” Chesney said.
Maher noted that he, like his show, is multi-dimensional in that he likes talking about different subjects with different people, and that California Gov. Gavin Newsom, as a presidential contender, is a person he might talk more specifically about political matters with.
“I’ve just never felt like it was my place,” Chesney said of talking about politics publicly.
“It’s not always everybody’s place,” Maher agreed. “You’re right.”
As a celebrity, Chesney noted, “There’s a certain ego, I think, that lives in there and a certain box inside your head and your soul that you have to check, for some reason, to think that you can make a difference.”
Maher agreed that celebrities have to keep that in check, mocking 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 saw it to be my place to use my stage or platform, no matter where I’m playing, 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 endorsement in the 2024 election, but after former Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat, he has become a critic of celebrities’ political rhetoric, describing it as counterproductive.
During an interview with John Mellencamp in February, Maher noted, “The Democrats, I mean — for people who didn’t see it — the point of it was, you’ve got to cut your celebrities loose. You think they’re helping, and they’re actually hurting, because people don’t see celebrities in any way like they can relate to their life, and they can’t in any way.”
“The other funny thing is that, you know, most people, you know… We don’t know anything. You know, we don’t know s—,” Mellencamp said. “We don’t know s— what’s really going on. We don’t know, you know, and it’s always been that way ever since I can remember.”
