'The Night Agent' star gives blunt message to actors who want to be political
Actor Gabriel Basso, who stars in the Netflix thriller, "The Night Agent," and played a young JD Vance in "Hillbilly Elegy," believes actors should be entertainers, not political commentators.
"I don't believe that actors should be famous," Basso said while on the "Great Company" podcast on January 31, after being asked if he enjoyed the fame that came from starring in the popular Netflix series.
The actor spoke out against celebrities who use their platform to deliver political messages, saying this went far beyond the scope of their job.
"We're saying words that we're told to say," he began. "We're told how to say them, we're told where to stand. And then we're telling people how to vote?" he mocked.
"Dude, your job is illegitimate in that way… Like you should be quiet, you should do your job. You should be a jester, entertain people. Then shut the f— up," he continued.
"We're court jesters. We're entertaining. We're public servants. We're there to perform, to entertain," he added. "And then all of a sudden, the jester, because he's in the courtroom, starts to be like, 'I might want to go sit on the throne!'"
"No. You're not supposed to be there. You're doing a very specific job," he said.
Basso said that also applied to government officials, whom, he said, should speaking for the people, not promoting themselves.
"You should be representing me… like, what are you doing?" he asked.
The actor's comments comes after a recent poll found that Republicans are largely averse to celebrities sharing their political opinions.
The AP-NORC poll, released in December, found 61% of Republicans strongly/somewhat disapproved of celebrities speaking out about political issues, while 27% neither approved nor disapproved and 11% strongly/somewhat approved.
For Democrats, just 20% strongly/somewhat disapproved, while 40% neither approved nor disapproved and 39% strongly/somewhat approved.
Fox News' Alexander Hall contributed to this article.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
34 minutes ago
Republicans urge Donald Trump and Elon Musk to end their feud
WASHINGTON -- As the Republican Party braces for aftershocks from President Donald Trump's spectacular clash with Elon Musk, lawmakers and conservative figures are urging détente, fearful of the potential consequences from a prolonged feud. At a minimum, the explosion of animosity between the two powerful men could complicate the path forward for Republicans' massive tax and border spending legislation that has been promoted by Trump but assailed by Musk. 'I hope it doesn't distract us from getting the job done that we need to,' said Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington state. "I think that it will boil over and they'll mend fences' Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, was similarly optimistic. 'I hope that both of them come back together because when the two of them are working together, we'll get a lot more done for America than when they're at cross purposes,' he told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night. Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, sounded almost pained on social media as Trump and Musk volleyed insults at each other, sharing a photo composite of the two men and writing, "But … I really like both of them.' 'Who else really wants @elonmusk and @realDonaldTrump to reconcile?' Lee posted, later adding: 'Repost if you agree that the world is a better place with the Trump-Musk bromance fully intact.' So far, the feud between Trump and Musk is probably best described as a moving target, with plenty of opportunities for escalation or detente. One person familiar with the president's thinking said Musk wants to speak with Trump, but that the president doesn't want to do it – or at least do it on Friday. The person requested anonymity to disclose private matters. In a series of conversations with television anchors Friday morning, Trump showed no interest in burying the hatchet. Asked on ABC News about reports of a potential call between him and Musk, the president responded: 'You mean the man who has lost his mind?' Trump added in the ABC interview that he was 'not particularly' interested in talking to Musk at the moment. Still, others remained hopeful that it all would blow over. 'I grew up playing hockey and there wasn't a single day that we played hockey or basketball or football or baseball, whatever we were playing, where we didn't fight. And then we'd fight, then we'd become friends again,' Hannity said on his show Thursday night. Acknowledging that it 'got personal very quick,' Hannity nonetheless added that the rift was 'just a major policy difference.' House Speaker Mike Johnson projected confidence that the dispute would not affect prospects for the tax and border bill. 'Members are not shaken at all,' the Louisiana Republican said. 'We're going to pass this legislation on our deadline.' He added that he hopes Musk and Trump reconcile, saying 'I believe in redemption' and 'it's good for the party and the country if all that's worked out.' But he also had something of a warning for the billionaire entrepreneur. 'I'll tell you what, do not doubt and do not second-guess and don't ever challenge the president of the United States, Donald Trump,' Johnson said. "He is the leader of the party. He's the most consequential political figure of this generation and probably the modern era.'
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jeffries declines to embrace Musk amid the billionaire's feud with Trump
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is keeping his distance from Elon Musk even after the billionaire's extraordinary public rebuke of President Trump and the GOP's domestic agenda. Asked Friday if Musk's bitter break from Trump presents Democrats with an opportunity to form a strange-bedfellows alliance with the tech titan, Jeffries shifted the conversation immediately to the Democrats' efforts to kill Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' 'The opportunity that exists right now is to kill the GOP tax scam,' Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol. 'It's legislation that we have been strongly opposed to, and uniformly opposed to, from the very beginning. … It rips health care away from millions of people. It snatches food out of the mouths of hungry children. And it rewards billionaires and [GOP] donors in ways that are fiscally irresponsible.' Pressed on whether Musk should be 'welcomed back' to the Democratic Party after the high-profile split from Trump, Jeffries punted again. 'Same answer,' he said. Jeffries's cautious remarks demonstrate the limits of the old adage that the enemy of one's enemy is one's friend. They also highlight the potential difficulties Democrats would face if they embraced a polarizing and nationally unpopular figure in Musk — one they've spent most of the last year bashing for heavy spending on Trump's campaign and, more recently, for his role in heading Trump's efforts to gut the federal government. Still, some Democrats say Musk's influence is significant enough that Democrats should make the effort to try to court him to their side amid the Trump feud. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who represents parts of Silicon Valley, is leading the charge. 'If Biden had a big supporter criticize him, Trump would have hugged him the next day,' Khanna posted Thursday on social platform X, which is owned by Musk. 'When we refused to meet with @RobertKennedyJr, Trump embraced him & won. We can be the party of sanctimonious lectures, or the party of FDR that knows how to win & build a progressive majority,' referring to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Jeffries isn't going nearly so far. But he has welcomed Musk's attacks on Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' and the Republicans who voted for it. And he aligned Democrats with Musk's sentiments that the package piles too much money onto the federal debt, a figure the Congressional Budget Office estimated to be $2.4 trillion. 'To the extent that Elon Musk has made the same point that everyone who has voted for this bill up until this moment should be ashamed of themselves, we agree,' Jeffries said. 'And to the extent that Elon Musk has made the point that the bill is a 'disgusting abomination,' we agree. And to the extent that Elon Musk has made the observation about the GOP tax scam — that it is reckless and irresponsible to explode the deficit by more than $3 trillion, and that potentially could set our country on a path toward bankruptcy — we agree.' 'These are arguments that Democrats have been making now for months.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
"I don't want to see my parents fighting": Fox News struggles to cope with Trump-Musk explosion
The cracks in the MAGA alliance are beginning to show, and Fox News isn't quite sure how to patch them. The conservative outlet appeared to be in damage control on Thursday as the rift between Donald Trump and Elon Musk continued to deepen. Many of the network's prominent commentators tried to cope with the situation, downplaying the public clash, describing it as a predictable outcome of a relationship between two powerful individuals and urging the two men to reconcile. 'Sometimes, guys fight,' said Jesse Watters. 'Guys sometimes will punch you in the face, and the next night you're having a beer. Sleep with your girlfriend, and you patch things up.' 'These guys are like roommates,' he added. "They're just blowing off steam.' Greg Gutfeld also reached for metaphors when he urged the two billionaires to 'knock it off.' 'It's like, I don't want to see my parents fighting," Gutfeld said. 'I like Batman and Robin. I don't like Spy vs. Spy.' He also praised Trump and Musk for airing out their grievances transparently for everyone to see. Sean Hannity sought to strike a similarly conciliatory tone, saying that just last week the two men were 'best friends,' and that the dispute ultimately came down to a disagreement over a piece of legislation. 'You have the president of the Free World; the richest guy on earth, one of the strongest guys on earth,' Hannity added. 'Conflicts? They're kind of predictable ... they disagree on policy.' Hannity predicted that Musk and Trump would work it outOther Fox figures didn't shy away from the implications of the very public breakdown. 'This is not a story that anyone was looking for,' Will Cain said. 'Hard to see a path forward for these two to repair their relationship." He called the feud 'a big, ugly battle,' and lamented the consequences for the country. Laura Ingraham, typically a Trump defender, urged the former president to pull back. 'Musk is his own person,' she said. 'Threatening to pull [his] government contracts—that's not wise, when five minutes ago you were of course hailing Musk's work in helping rescue the stranded Americans in space.'
