James Hibberd
Say what you will about Joe Biden (and we’ve been as candid as anyone), the man has enjoyed an A-list roster of celebrity fans in recent years: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lawrence and George Clooney are among those who have endorsed and/or fundraised. While Biden’s famous supporters haven’t been nearly so public or enthusiastic since his debate disaster, Hollywood loves the Dems and isn’t shy about it.
Donald Trump, despite having spend a great deal of time in Hollywood, has never drawn much star support. Yet he still has an odd assemblage of mostly C- and D-listers. To some extent, this is true of most modern Republican presidential candidates (with Ronald Reagan probably being the last to draw a fair amount major star support).
Do celebrity endorsements matter? Probably not. And among Republican voters, almost certainly not. But nomination conventions are basically multi-day TV events and TV shows benefit from breaking up a sea of yammering politicians with a few pretty famous faces and, therefore, celebs tend to get trotted out. Trump’s offerings have traditionally been meager on this front, sometimes embarrassingly so.
Here’s a guide to some of Trump’s current and former celebrity backers:
Amber Rose: The rapper, model and reality TV star (RuPaul’s Drag Race) impressed pundits and was heralded as giving the best speech of the first night of the RNC. She also, unfortunately, was the target of ugly backlash from some on the left (MSNBC’s Joy Reid dismissively called her, “this woman who is of whatever race that she has claimed”) and on the right.
Dana White: The UFC mogul is reportedly getting a plum spot on the RNC schedule tonight, speaking right before Trump himself. White is a three-time RNC speaker for Trump and his relationship with the former president goes back to the early 2000s, when Trump hosted UFC events at his Atlantic City hotel. “Nobody took us seriously, except Donald Trump,” White said in 2016. “Donald was the first to recognize the potential that we saw in the UFC, and encouraged us to build our business.”
Savannah Chrisley: Another reality star (Chrisley Knows Best) speaking this year, the Southerner’s reality show parents are currently in prison for conspiring to defraud banks and the IRS, so plenty of Trump commonality there.
Chris Janson: The singer is at this year’s convention. He’s songs include “All American Guy” and other tracks with titles that sound like they came out of a country music AI generator (such as “Buy Me a Boat,” “Redneck Life” and “Flag on a Wall”).
Roseanne Barr: The actress and stand-up comic was fired from her eponymous ABC sitcom due to posting a tweet with racist language in 2018. In the years since, she’s been outspoken in her support of Trump. In April, she posted a skit online where she accused Joe Biden of raping her 26 years ago in an attempt to mock Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.
50 Cent: The rapper briefly publicly backed Trump on Instagram back in 2020 (“I don’t care Trump doesn’t like black people 62 percent are you out of ya fucking mind”). He then took the endorsement back (“Fuc*k Donald Trump, I never liked him”). Then 50 Cent, who was reportedly shot nine times in 2000, started trending last Saturday after Trump’s assassination attempt and has since put Trump’s face on the iconic cover of his album Get Rich or Die Tryin‘ during a show.
Hulk Hogan: News broke Thursday morning that the former wrestling icon, who was fired from the WWE for using the N-word, is going to speak at the RNC tonight. He’s also been pushing his beer line, Real American Beer, which Hogan said he created to take advantage of Bud Light’s plummet in popularity with conservatives.
Stephen Baldwin: The youngest Baldwin brother endorsed Trump back in 2016 and in a 2017 interview said his brother and Trump impressionist Alec Baldwin hadn’t spoken to him since the election. While he hasn’t made headlines on the political front lately, he was recently seen supporting his brother at the Rust shooting trial.
Kid Rock: The singer has been a longtime Trump supporter, one of the first celebrities to endorse him and even visited the White House in 2018. According to Rolling Stone, his concerts have even started to resemble Trump rallies. “When I doubled down on it, I knew that could be a career ender,” he told the outlet. “But I was betting that there were a lot of like-minded people out there … You think I like Trump because he’s a nice guy? I’m not electing the deacon of a church. That motherfucker likes to win. He likes to cheat in his fucking golf game. I want that guy on my team.”
Lil Wayne: The rapper voiced his support for Trump in 2020, specifically due to Trump’s criminal justice reform efforts. So its perhaps ironic that one of Trump’s final acts before leaving office was to issue a presidential pardon for Lil Wayne, keeping him out of prison for a firearm charge
Stacey Dash: The Clueless actress went full MAGA back in 2016, but then had a change of heart in 2021 after Jan. 6, saying she was “truly done” with Trump. “Because senseless violence of any kind I denounce,” she said. “What happened on Jan. 6 was just appalling and stupid … There are things that I am sorry for. Things that I did say, that I should not have said them the way I said them. They were very arrogant and prideful and angry.”
Scott Baio: The former Happy Days star gave a speech at the 2016 RNC in support of Trump. He has never been seen since.*
Omarosa Manigault Newman: The infamous Apprentice contestant made it further than perhaps any celebrity in Trump’s orbit: She was hired by Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and even joined his White House team before departing in 2017. After that, she denounced Trump, and accused him of using racist language in her 2018 tell-all book Unhinged. “It is very clear Donald Trump is a racist and he’s trying to undermine our democracy,” she said.
*Kidding. He moved to a condo in Florida last year, which is almost the same as vanishing.
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