Randy D Gibson

Aging rocker Neil Young caused quite a stir on social media the last couple of weeks when he threatened to pull his music from Spotify unless the online media outlet removed Joe Rogan’s podcasts which have been critical of Covid vaccines.  Young’s announcement generated some fun social media memes, including one of my favorites saying 80s duo Millie Vanilli was removing someone else’s music for the same reason.  (For younger readers, the group was forced to return a Grammy Award because it was learned they were not actually singing on their recordings but lip synching the lyrics.)

Young’s biggest hit was Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World and that got me to thinking that as far as many entertainers are concerned, you can rock in a free world, but not speak your opinion unless you agree with them.

It’s ironic that in 2006 Young participated in the Freedom of Speech Tour protesting the involvement of the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan.  One would think that when it came to freedom of speech, he would have a Heart of Gold, but instead he’s acting like an Old Man. When it comes to Young, rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd said it best years ago that a southern man don’t need him around anyhow.

Young isn’t the only entertainer to share his opinions.  For a Material Girl, Madonna sure didn’t care for President Donald Trump, even though his strong economy put America in a material world. Madonna once said Papa Don’t Preach, but she didn’t mind preaching to us.

Actress Alyssa Milano wasn’t too Charmed with Trump either, and for four years she kept asking Who’s The Boss? Robert DiNiro put a damper on the Tony Awards a few years back when he started giving everyone his opinion about Trump like a Raging Bull. His foul complaining made him out to not be one of the Goodfellas, and many thought he should have saved his opinion for the Taxi Driver.

It’s not only the entertainers on the left either.  Clint Eastwood left republicans raising confused eyebrows several years ago when he lectured to an empty chair at the Republican National Convention.  Many felt he obviously had spent too much time drifting alone on the high plains chewing on little except Rawhide. 

Rocker Ted Nugent held nothing back about his feeling for former President Barack Obama.  While attending one of his concerts with my then-teenaged daughter, the ‘Nuge’ went on a long profanity-laced tirade about the then-president which left my daughter wide-eyed and shocked, having never heard such a string of perfectly put together curse words intermixed with rock and roll guitar riffs like poetry.  My daughter looked at me and I thought Great Gonzos!, what am I going to say to her. I told her he must have been suffering from Cat Scratch Fever.

Alas, we live in a world where entertainers build up their own self-importance and really think we care what they think.  The only time most of us really care is if they run for office, like President Ronald Reagan did when he wanted to clean up all the Monkey Business going on in Washington.

Night Ranger says you can still Rock In America, and John Cougar-Mellencamp says you can R-O-C-K in the U-S-A.  However, unless you agree with them, many entertainers don’t want us to S-P-E-A-K in the U-S-A.

I think most Americans, liberal and conservative, wish entertainers would simply do their jobs and entertain us but keep their political opinions to themselves.  If not, southern folk don’t need them around anyhow.

Randy Gibson is the CEO of RDG Communications Group, LLC.