Sydney Sweeney Sticks Her Neck Out For Nobody
Chipotle politics
The Housemaid star Sydney Sweeney wants to enjoy her box office success without wading into politics. According to Cosmopolitan, Sweeney is selling underwear, not ideology. “I’m not a political person,” she said. “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.”
Minnesotans might have never imagined masked thugs terrorizing their neighborhoods and shooting people dead in the street. They are still getting involved and actively resisting Trump’s fascist regime. Sweeney seems to have a limited imagination for a self-proclaimed artist.
Sweeney adds that speaking out about politics isn’t “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.”
These pop song liner notes would’ve made sense in a simpler time, such as the late 1990s when Sweeney was born. Celebrities had no moral imperative to speak out about the flat tax. Now, federal agents are occupying U.S. cities and free expression in general is under attack.
Sweeney was in the news last year for more than her underwear when it was revealed that she’s a registered Republican. Liberals lamented and MAGA rejoiced. This frustrated Sweeney, who wants to sell movie tickets and branded merchandise to everyone, regardless of politics. Offending no one while remaining tolerable to everyone is how Chipotle stays in business. It’s profitable but not particularly inspiring, which I think is Chipotle’s slogan.
Bill Maher probably considers Sydney Sweeney the model celebrity. He recently argued that celebrities should keep their political opinions to themselves (we’ll get to the obvious irony here). Maher claims celebrities are out of touch and completely removed from the life experiences of average Americans. He seems to think that whenever a liberal celebrity expresses a political opinion, this drives independents to vote Republican, presumably out of spite.
This ignores the fact that Democrats have over performed in most elections held since 2024, mostly because everyone rightly loathes that crawling piece of slime Donald Trump. Last Saturday, Democrat Taylor Rehmet defeated Trump-endorsed Republican Leigh Wambsganss 57 to 43 percent in the Texas Senate District 9 special election. This wasn’t Austin but the very Republican Fort Worth area.
Also, you might have noticed that Bill Maher is himself a wealthy, out-of-touch celebrity who is no more connected to the struggles of the common man than Barton Fink. Maher guest starred on Murder She Wrote when Pete Buttigieg was in grade school. True, Maher was never that successful as an actor or comedian but he’s still taken political stands professionally for the past few decades. It’s his occupation, as well as his right as a citizen, but liberal celebrities shouldn’t stay quiet just because their IMDB credits are more impressive than Maher’s and don’t include Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death.
We’re well past the era of celebrities using their acceptance speeches to criticize U.S. foreign policy. Remaining silent while the government is executing citizens is not a neutral political stance. It’s complicity. Arguably, celebrities have even more responsibility to speak out against a corrupt, oppressive government. Their wealth and associated privilege make them less vulnerable than a single mom and an ICU nurse.
Sweeney can’t really argue that art is inherently escapist — simply mindless fluff intended to anesthetize the masses. Her big break was in The Handmaid’s Tale not Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death. Art has a long history of promoting social and political change. The classic Casablanca is almost shameless wartime propaganda that’s also a great work of art.
Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart, of course) runs a nightclub in Vichy-controlled Casablanca. Rick originally thinks he can avoid the war that’s being fought outside his door. “I stick my neck out for no one,” he says. Rick symbolizes America, and his position is one of cynical isolationism. “The problems of this world are not in my department,” Rick says. “I’m a saloon keeper.” That’s as callow and short-sighted as Sweeney’s “I’m an artist.” (Watch below.)
Eventually, Rick sacrifices his own material comfort to join the resistance against Nazis. When the film ends, we don’t know if Rick will survive but we do know he’s done the right thing.
Casablanca is set in December 1941, when the U.S. officially joined the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Rick’s fateful decision is meant to reinforce American involvement in the Allied war effort. Appeasement or even neutrality is not an option. Casablanca was nationally released in 1942, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had concluded that the Allied powers must pursue unconditional surrender from the Axis powers. There was no middle ground, no consensus seeking with evil. Lasting peace required “the destruction of the philosophies in those countries which are based on conquest and the subjugation of other people.”
At the Grammys, Jelly Roll described himself as just a “dumb redneck” who doesn’t have any political opinions, although he’s been photographed with Mike Johnson. It’s not a big mystery where he stands. However, Sydney Sweeney has released carefully worded statements that one could charitably read as distancing herself from MAGA without actually acknowledging what’s going on in the world.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I’m always trying to bring people together. I’m against hate and divisiveness,” Sweeney told People in December. “In the past my stance has been to never respond to negative or positive press but recently I have come to realize that my silence regarding this issue has only widened the divide, not closed it. So I hope this new year brings more focus on what connects us instead of what divides us.”
Of course, everyone was welcome at Rick’s club, including Nazis, but he eventually had to take a side. Sweeney is acting like Sally Bowles in Cabaret. In the end, she doesn’t care who’s in the Kit Kat Klub’s audience, so long as she’s safe and the party continues.
I think I’ve graded Sweeney on a curve because her facial expression suggests very low intelligence. But it is clear she’s trying to do the Michael Jordan thing (“Republicans buy shoes, too”) which wasn’t so obnoxious in an era where the mainstream Republican and mainstream Democratic positions boiled down to “we disagree on policy but ultimately are trying to do what’s best for the country at large.” You could think Bob Dole was pushing bad policy but you’d never think he considered those who voted against him as subhuman. Those days are over with Trump.
Many celebrities tried the Jordan approach—no one knew Taylor Swift’s politics until 2018 (she had to come out as a Democrat because the alt-Right started calling her an Aryan goddess, assuming she was one of them), Jim Gaffigan went through something similar because to audiences he coded as a Republican (midwestern family man and regular churchgoer—turns out he’s a churchgoer who actually believes the teachings of Jesus, so he had to speak out against Trump).
If Sweeney is truly a MAGA or at least just doesn’t want to lose MAGA fans, then good luck with that career. Maybe she can do TPUSA events with big stars like Scott Baio and Kristy Swanson.
A young Suzie Greenburg went to see U2's Rattle and Hum at the local, old fashioned movie theater in the small town where my high school was. At some point in the film, the bass player (Adam Clayton) was sitting, being interviewed. He was probably at a bar, but I can't be sure. He founded the band, and was known for not being as political in the press as his band mates. What he said was impressed upon me, I've carried it with me.
"There are some people who say you shouldn't mix politics and music, sports and politics. Well... I think that's kinda bullshit!"
Well said Adam. Well said.