At the annual “Women in Entertainment” breakfast hosted by The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week, actress and writer Tina Fey (Mean Girls, 2004) finally explained to Hollywood why Hillary Clinton lost the election to President-elect Donald Trump.
“I have to say, I think the real reason that Hillary lost — and it’s the thing that people are afraid to talk about — not enough celebrity music videos urging people to vote,” Fey declared, as the audience burst into laughter. It seems even liberals have learned to treat those videos for what they are: a punch line, as opposed to a real political force.
Fey continued the joke, saying, “I just think if there had been, like, one more funny rap, or like, another ‘Hamilton’ parody, or something — just like a little more hustle from Liz Banks and we could’ve taken Michigan.”
Nice plug for @GallowayOnFilm new Sherry Lansing book here, but also Tina Fey's thoughts on why Hillary Clinton lost #THRWomen pic.twitter.com/FdP6g6g2Mb
— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) December 7, 2016
Indeed, after a “sh*t ton of famous people” did a video encouraging people to vote (for Hillary), some enterprising everyday people made a wonderful parody. Thanks, actors, but people enjoy watching you in movies and on television — they don’t pay you for your political views. It was slightly refreshing to hear a celebrity like Tina Fey joke about this.
Fey’s ability to joke about the election is a good sign, as it might suggest that even some notorious liberal Hollywood types have finally begun to accept the results of the election, after weeks of protests and rioting. Not only did students and teachers walk out of class to protest Trump’s victory, but later it was discovered that Pomona College paid students to protest. Well after Clinton conceded, a MoveOn.org petition attracted 3,000 signatures asking the Electoral College to vote for her instead of Trump.
But not so fast — Fey hasn’t exactly changed her opinion on the president-elect. She seems not to have been listening when her presidential candidate told Americans to give Trump “an open mind and the chance to lead.”
In this week’s issue of The Hollywood Reporter, Fey blasted Trump using the same old liberal talking points. “In a world where the president makes fun of handicapped people and fat people, how do we proceed with dignity?” Fey asked. “I want to tell people, ‘If you do two things this year, watch Idiocracy by Mike Judge and read [Nazi filmmaker] Leni Riefenstahl’s 800-page autobiography and then call it a year.'”
Next Page: Why Riefenstahl? Because Trump is Hitler.
Why Riefenstahl? Because she accepted Hitler as her ruler. Fey described the Nazi filmmaker’s life in a way that clearly alluded to the anti-Trump protests following the election.
She grew up in Germany. She was in many ways a brilliant pioneer. … But she also rolled with the punches and said, “Well, he’s the fuhrer. He’s my president. I’ll make films for him.” She did some terrible, terrible things. And I remember reading [her book] 20 years ago, thinking, “This is a real lesson, to be an artist who doesn’t roll with what your leader is doing just because he’s your leader.”
Maybe Fey hasn’t learned from her mistakes. She’s still (1) comparing Trump to Hitler, and (2) fomenting more protests against him. What does it mean to not “roll with what your leader is doing just because he’s your leader?”
I doubt anyone would disagree that, no matter who is in power, he or she will end up doing some rather heinous things (like taking the Little Sisters of the Poor to court for contraception, for example). But does anyone honestly think Trump will crack down on Hollywood? Does anyone honestly think he’ll be making propaganda films like Hitler did? America is not 1930s Germany and Trump is not Hitler. I wasn’t exactly his biggest fan, but come on.
It was exactly this kind of scare tactics and fear-mongering that gave Trump the Oval Office in the first place. Tina Fey just proved she has learned nothing from that, and I doubt she’s alone in that.
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