'The Night Agent' star gives blunt message to actors who want to be political
"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.
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