Fox’s The Five was right to run a segment reminding Americans that not every celebrity needs to be our national conscience, and KISS legend Gene Simmons’ blunt message — that entertainers should stop lecturing the public about politics — deserves praise, not ridicule. For too long Hollywood elites have assumed the moral high ground while demanding we all fall in line, and a straight-talking rocker telling people to mind their own business is exactly the kind of pushback America needs.
Simmons has said this before in no uncertain terms, famously telling interviewers that entertainers should “shut their pieholes” and warning that stars pushing political views can warp the democratic process by pressuring fans to follow them blindly. His point is simple: there’s a privacy to voting and a civic responsibility that shouldn’t be traded for clicks and celebrity virtue-signaling.
Conservatives should embrace that common-sense perspective. We defend free speech for everyone, but we also see the danger when actors and pop stars use their platforms to bully, shame, or monetize political division — a phenomenon the mainstream media cheerleads every step of the way. The loudest voices on cable and in Hollywood have become self-appointed moral police, and it’s time ordinary Americans stop letting them dictate how we think and live.
Make no mistake: this isn’t about silencing those celebrities who have personal views — Simmons himself has weighed in on world events at times — it’s about rejecting the culture of credential-free lecturing and the cancel mobs that follow. When entertainers turn into political commissars, they trade art for activism and invite the very tribalism that weakens our civic life. We should expect our cultural figures to entertain and inspire, not to instruct and intimidate.
There’s also a practical, patriotic argument here. Voting is meant to be a private act of conscience behind a curtain, and when celebrities try to turn ballots into trend-following, they cheapen the institution and erode trust. Gene’s blunt reminder that your vote is nobody’s business but yours is a rebuke to the performative politics that dominate our feeds and our airwaves.
The media establishment that amplifies celebrity pronouncements should be held to account for the role it plays in fanning outrage and dividing neighbors. Shows like The Five did a service by spotlighting this issue — conservatives ought to welcome any reminder that America’s strength comes from productive citizens, not from the sermonizing of prima donnas.
If we want to heal this country, we start in our own communities: get back to work, strengthen families, teach our kids to think for themselves, and refuse to let pop stars and pundits turn politics into a spectator sport. Gene Simmons’ message is a wake-up call to reclaim common sense and civic decency — and hardworking Americans should answer it with pride.
