Bill O’Reilly, conservative talking head and long-time proclaimer of fiery political opinions, had another one up his sleeve on Tuesday. This time O’Reilly had some thoughts about the hordes of celebrities who have declined to attend or perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration later in January. That list includes Elton John, some outspoken Rockettes, one member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and a very confused Vince Neil from Motely Crue, among others. Alec Baldwin did agree to perform if Trump would have him and Bill and Hillary Clinton will be in attendance, but PEOTUS probably isn’t overjoyed about those developments. He and his camp are reportedly so annoyed with the lack of A-list talent that they have tried to sell access or grant ambassadorships in order to secure top-tier attendees.
So now, as is his tendency, Bill O’Reilly is accusing the celebrities who refuse to attend the big day of “reverse McCarthyism.” McCarthyism in its standard form being “the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially in order to restrict dissent or political criticism.” So essentially, O’Reilly is claiming that A-list celebrities are using their influence in an attempt to restrict Donald Trump’s own politics and opinions in the public eye. He contends that the “anti-Trump zealots” are smearing Trump’s name and attempting to gin up widespread discrimination against Trump supporters. Of course there is a difference between worrying your career may be harmed by associating publicly with a politician who may or may not have America’s best interests at heart and being someone that is publicly using your platform to condescend or discriminate against millions of people who voted for Donald Trump.
Many celebrities have turned down the opportunity privately or with respectful public comments, and the ones who haven’t have made it completely clear as to why they don’t want to perform without being overtly haughty or rude towards Trump voters. In the segment, O’Reilly says that an inauguration “celebrates the peaceful transition of power engineered by American voters” and that as such the ceremony itself is not a “political gesture” regardless of your feelings about the incoming leader. Never mind that said leader has already antagonized China, threatened to ban Muslims, and build a wall on the Mexican border without actually understanding how these things work or why they might be unwise political decisions.
“Bitterness” about the Bush-Gore decision might not stack up to the Trump win in the way that O’Reilly wants it to, and it’s also not the best comparison to say similar occurrences of “controversial votes” should mean performers have to treat this event as they did George W. Bush’s first inauguration. Performing at the inauguration for someone who isn’t the preferred president-elect to many Americans is one thing, but it happens. It is far more potentially damaging to someone’s career to perform on stage in honor of someone who publicly spouts racist, xenophobic, or downright politically insane remarks. As O’Reilly’s guest Charles Krauthammer points out, Hollywood is a very liberal industry and maybe the answer here simply lies in people not agreeing with Trump politically and not wanting to put in the effort to perform. That, or the situation could be that they are making a very matter-of-fact point about the amount of people who will not associate with this administration. O’Reilly is simply doing them a favor and boosting the signal.