Neil Patrick Harris And The Politics Of Normality
What happens when everyone thinks they're right?
Actor Neil Patrick Harris was at a press conference in Berlin for his upcoming movie Sunny Dancer, and he was asked whether cinema should take an overtly political stance against fascism.
“I think we live in a strangely algorithmic and divided world right now, and so as artists, I’m always interested in doing things that are apolitical,” Harris replied. “Because we’re all, as humans, wanting to connect in some way.”
This would not have been a controversial opinion just a decade ago, but Harris was immediately called out on social media in overtly personal terms. Journalist Lola Méndez posted on Threads that Harris’s remarks are “the perfect example of how cis white gay men are the most privileged of the LGBTQ+ community.” Other comments were along those tedious lines: Harris — an individual — expressed an opinion that somehow rationalizes all negative opinions people have about his particular demographic. We should reject this bigotry. Disagree with the individual but don’t bash his identity. (Watch below.)
I have my quibbles with Harris’s stated position, though I think it’s slightly different than his fellow celebrity Sydney Sweeney’s recent remarks. She told Cosmopolitan, “I’m not a political person. I’m in the arts. I’m not here to speak on politics. That’s not an area I’ve ever even imagined getting into. It’s not why I became who I am. I became an actor because I like to tell stories, but I don’t believe in hate in any form. I believe we should all love each other and have respect and understanding for one another.”
Harris, however, has made political statements. He defended the cast of Hamilton when Trump demanded an apology for a curtain call speech they gave when Mike Pence was in attendance.
“I didn’t find what was said [by the Hamilton cast] at all offensive or mean,” Harris told Vulture. “In fact, their quieting people’s boos and their thinking about ways to articulate themselves effectively is a much different engagement than if they were just insulting someone. I know that Lin and that cast are intelligent and respectful and use their words with great intention. And so I think what was said was effective. I do worry about a President-Elect demanding an apology from people speaking their opinions.”
Harris later made a not-so subtle dig at Trump on social media: “I like how, when you type the word ‘trump’ on your iphone, it doesn’t autocorrect and capitalize the ‘T’. I’m okay with that.”
In an Instagram post on November 4, 2024, Harris encouraged his fans to vote in the upcoming election.
Please vote. And take a few additional minutes to familiarize yourself with not just the candidates down the ballot, but the measures and propositions as well. Be informed, and be empowered. Voting is a privilege that many don’t have… so take your time, do it with knowledge and pride. #grateful
It’s true that Harris didn’t explicitly endorse Kamala Harris or any other Democratic politicians, but suggesting that voters “be informed” would seemingly indicate a clear liberal bias.
Harris specifically said he was “always interested in doing things that are apolitical,” which is not the same as declaring a total aversion to overtly political projects. Sunny Dancer director George Jaques has said he wanted to make a movie that “takes you someplace else.” He’s 25 so you can’t blame him for embracing escapist entertainment. However, Sunny Dancer is more than a routine coming-of-age story. Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us) plays Ivy, a 17-year-old cancer survivor. Although currently healthy, fighting the disease cost her key teenage experiences and left her socially stunted. That’s something anyone who was a teen during the pandemic might find relatable. Harris stars as Patrick, a parent who lost a child to cancer and now runs a summer camp that helps survivors and patients ease back into childhood.
I can appreciate Harris’s desire to produce art that appeals to our collective human experience. When live theater returned in 2021, I wasn’t particularly interested in didactic works about the pandemic or racial oppression. I’d spent the past year seeking comfort in reruns of I Dream of Jeannie. The problem, though, is that “apolitical art” no longer exists in the MAGA age.
The Trump-steppers freaked out when Disney’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series cast a Black woman in a major role. Right-wing commentator Matt Walsh questioned the scientific reality of Black mermaids. Disney princess scholar Ben Shapiro complained that Rachel Zegler somehow wasn’t white enough to play Snow White, who’s imaginary.
The right-wing Heritage Foundation has accused Netflix of engaging in woke mad scientist-style “social engineering” that’s intended to “advance left-wing radical political ideologies and undermine and demean traditional American values.” In less deranged layman’s terms, they mean that Netflix has content that includes LGBTQ people, who unlike Snow White and mermaids do in fact exist.
During a recent Senate hearing, Josh Hawley, who alas also exists, asked Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, “Why is it that so much of Netflix’s content promotes a transgender ideology? Almost half of your content for children — I’m talking about minor children, I’m not talking about teenagers — promotes a transgender ideology agenda.”
Hawley’s figure is grossly exaggerated, but bigots always feel overwhelmed by the mere presence of anyone different. Harris is a performer who celebrates difference. I recall these moving lines from his opening number for the 2013 Tonys: “There's a kid in the middle of nowhere who's sitting there, living for Tony performances singin' and flippin' along with the Pippins and Wickeds and Kinkys, Matildas and Mormonses
So we might reassure that kid and do something to spur that kid. Cause I promise you all of us up here tonight — we were that kid.” (Watch below.)
Bella Ramsey identifies as non-binary and queer. If that’s true of Ramsey’s character in Sunny Dancer, Josh Hawley would probably insist the film “promotes a transgender ideology.” It’s also not clear if Harris’s character is queer, as well, but the point is it’s not relevant. People like Hawley want to make Ramsey and Harris’s existences inherently political and deny them their essential normality. I can understand why Harris would resist this.
One of my favorite recent Harris performances was as the evil Toymker in Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary special, The Giggle, and the story didn’t shy away from pointed political commentary. When the Doctor (David Tennant) asks the Toymaker how he turned human civilization into a screaming rage fest, the villain explains that he fixed things so that everyone believes they’re right, regardless of actual truth.
“I made every opinion supreme,” the Toymaker boasts. “That’s the game of the 21st century. They shout and they type and they cancel. So I fixed it. Now everybody wins.”
“And everyone loses,” the Doctor replies somberly.
There’s a lot of losing in today’s politics and social media.
Sure, I would have preferred something more along the lines of “It is sad that we cannot speak of our commonalities as vulnerable and resilient human beings without also acknowledging the powerful political forces currently levelled against so many vulnerable people. That said, this is a movie about what is possible when we listen to and embrace the better angels of our nature.” But publicity tours/promo events are a media meat grinder designed to produce soundbites to sell product, not promote human rights, and given his life, work, and multiple previous affirmative statements, I'm giving NPH a mulligan on this very human, “imperfect” verbal stumble. People who want to attack “privileged cis White gay men” would do better to aim their blunderbusses (and slings and arrows) at actual MAGA fascist privileged cis White gay men like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, that Nazi guy aiding and abetting Trump's destruction of the Kennedy Center, and Peter Thiel.
NPH came out of the crucible of "child acting" fairly well, from what I can see ftom the outside. He has had some missteps in public, the birthday cake of a dead singer who became famous young comes to mind- and I find this statement less than I want but not nothing. He is, after all, an entertainer, an artist. The work is what speaks. His work has been at an incredibly high standard and I'll pretty much always watch him if given the chance. The Tony song? Dedicated to the kids who are in the middle of nowhere? Was incredible. The Superbowl halftime show when Mr Bunny gave his Grammy to a child who represented his younger self is the same message. Believe in yourself.
Good advice.
Not bad for a song and dance man.