Rita Panahi: Why celebrities who aren’t Lefties better keep quiet

Celebs spouting far Left nonsense can be as radical, inaccurate and divisive as they like without copping a barrage of bad press or being black-listed.

If you’re a celebrity, then you better be a Leftie or be quiet. Any high-profile individuals, whether they be actors, sports stars, models, musicians or TV presenters, who stray from Leftist orthodoxy now risk being attacked, ostracised and ultimately cancelled.

A new McCarthyism is here and challenging the groupthink can be career suicide.

Celebs spouting far Left nonsense can be as radical, inaccurate and divisive as they like without copping a barrage of bad press or being black-listed. Just check out Pat Cash, Shane Jacobson or Jimmy Barnes’ views on Australia Day.

But if a high-profile artist utters a single centre-right opinion, no matter how mainstream and reasonable, they are mercilessly attacked by the media and have all sorts of campaigns launched against them by the activist class. It takes enormous courage to take a stand against the hate-filled mob.

It’s not just conservatives who are reluctant to voice their views but centrists and non-political individuals who have an opinion that offends the perpetually offended Left.

Sam Newman has never been shy about sharing his views, including controversial takes that saw him pushed out of Nine. Picture: Nicole Cleary

Last month the lead guitarist for Mumford & Sons was cancelled for the crime of reading a best-selling book written by journalist, Andy Ngo, who has reported extensively on Antifa and has been the victim of a vicious assault by the far-Left group.

“Congratulations @MrAndyNgo. Finally had the time to read your important book. You’re a brave man,” Winston Marshall tweeted.

Now, you would think such a benign tweet from a British musician would go largely unnoticed but all hell broke loose with dozens of “news stories” and commentaries damning Marshall as a “far-right sympathiser” with many articles simply rehashing the criticism of random Twitter trolls; “Mumford and Sons’ guitarist slammed” was a popular headline.

The shaming worked, it wasn’t long before Marshall issued a pathetic, grovelling apology and stepped down from the band he co-founded 14 years ago. That’s how cancel culture works; it’s cruel, unfair and unforgiving.

No wonder most conservative-leaning celebs keep their mouths shut.

Some even reluctantly take a knee for the race-baiting, anti-capitalist, anti-police movement called Black Lives Matter despite being opposed to the majority of the neo-Marxist group’s agenda. It’s hard to blame them.

What young footballer wants the aggravation that would come from fellow players, AFL officials and especially the woke simpletons in the media if they stood while others knelt.

One old footballer who doesn’t mind the aggravation is Sam Newman who has never been shy about sharing his views including controversial takes that saw him pushed out of Nine. Newman has become a victim of the heckler’s veto with his appearance at The Lady Bay Hotel in Normanville cancelled. “An Evening with Sam Newman” won’t go ahead after the pub received complaints from the Karen brigade, including male Karens (aka Kevins).

The hotel manager said we “don’t like to be controversial” but submitting to the mob should be controversial. No one is forcing patrons to purchase a ticket to see Sam and a few enraged activists should not have the power to deplatform a speaker.

Comedian and activist Magda Szubanski is not shy about sharing her polarising comments but her views are celebrated by the like-minded media. Picture: AAP

Contrast the Geelong great’s cancellation with comedian and activist Magda Szubanski who, like Newman, is never shy about sharing her polarising comments on politics and cultural issues.

But her views are celebrated by the like-minded media and she has just scored a coveted gig with Nine as the host of the Weakest Link. On the weekend Szubanski mocked Senator Amanda Stoker’s Christian beliefs and her elevation to assistant minister for women. Szubanski tweeted: “This reshuffle has handed power to Amanda Stoker, another of the small but noisy ‘Christian Soldiers’ faction hijacking the national agenda.”

The vicious attacks against Stoker’s character from the Twitter cesspit have been profoundly unfair, often based on falsehoods and have ignored her work supporting women including prosecuting cases on behalf of female victims of abuse.

It seems those who want more women in public life only want women who share their Leftist world view. That’s not championing women, that’s championing a political party.

And, if you’re going to reference Stoker’s Christianity then have the guts to do the same to politicians from other religious and ethnic minorities.

It was refreshing to see Stoker call out the feral abuse and lies. “They say they want more women participating in public life,” Senator Stoker said. “Yet when women who don’t necessarily think the same way as them…they go on the attack and can be particularly nasty about it.”

But Stoker is a politician and accustomed to the vitriol. For conservative celebrities it’s easier to play it safe and say nothing than to risk an industry backlash and reputational damage from a dishonest media.

At some point the cancel culture wokelings who think they’re part of a revolution against a racist, sexist status quo will realise that just about every institution from academia to media to the corporate world has been captured by the Left; they are the institutional power and are actively excluding dissenting voices.

They are everything they pretend to hate.

Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist

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