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Hollywood should take a page out of Taylor Swift's book and keep politics out of the Emmys
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The lead actors in "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." - photo by Jared Whitley
Keeping in mind that while the players gonna play, and yes the haters gonna hate, Americas sweetheart Taylor Swift has come under fire since the 2016 presidential election because she doesnt talk about her politics.

Swift has avoided talking about politics entirely, except for a neutral Election Day message on social last year encouraging her fans to vote. But that wasnt enough for many, and speculation begin to fly that she must have voted for President Donald Trump.

Swifts tight-lipped approach to politics seems to be an anomaly in todays entertainment industry. With celebrities taking to social media daily to pontificate about their political leanings and widespread groupthink in the entertainment industry, Im of the opinion that Hollywood has become entirely too political.

The temptation for celebrities to talk about politics is perhaps greater for musicians than actors or writers, since musicians perform live on stage and have hours at their disposal to say whatever they want. The only platform other creators have is award shows.

One of them is coming up this Sunday: the Emmys. While the only thing I really care about for the 2017 Emmys is how many awards "Stranger Things" will grab, politics and awards shows have become seemingly and disappointingly inseparable.

Hollywood and others in the entertainment industry need to put a lid on it about politics. Celebrities live inside a bubble of privilege most us cant understand, and their insipid tirades are delusional at best and hypocritical at worst.

Millionaires in Hollywood lecture working-class Americans about environmental issues, despite the fact that many of them fly in private jets, one of the worst polluters on Earth, even to conferences on climate change.

Hollywood has criticized Trump for his sexual behavior, while turning a blind eye their institutions own systematic pedophilia, with victims including Judy Garland, Corey Haim and many more. Elijah Wood recently described the abuse as organized, while Corey Feldman said in a 2012 interview with ABC, The number one problem in Hollywood was and always will be pedophilia.

Then theres the subject of race. You remember that whole #OscarsSoWhite business? Danny Devito decried not just TV but the entire nation as racist, with no self-awareness that his show Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia in more than a decade featured no actors of color in lead roles.

Not that it would make sense to have nonwhite actors for a show set in Philadelphia. I mean Philly is only 55 percent non-white.

There was an episode in January where the lead ensemble turned into black people for a short time, a move the AV Club said (raised) questions about the state of race relations and (used) each characters biases and in Franks case old-fashioned racism to demonstrate the various ways white Americans deny that racism actually exists. Depending on your outlook, the move could be seen as hypocritical considering the shows generally all-white lead actors.

This mountain of unaware hypocrisy in Hollywood could be the reason that hardly anyone watches award shows anymore. If entertainers cant keep quiet for our sakes, they should at least do it for their own.

Swift is setting a political standard that other entertainers should follow. In the "blank space" on her ballot, shell write whatever name she wants, and for anyone who criticizes her for not sharing that name, shell just shake it off.
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