Celebrity

Hollywood has a long history of celebrities using their fame to advocate for causes that are important to them. However, as social justice issues have become increasingly entwined with partisan politics, advocacy and activism have become more fraught with pitfalls. Aligning yourself with a particular issue quickly gets you slapped with ideological and political labels that may or may not reflect where you stand, and those labels themselves may earn you praise or condemnation you may or may not deserve.

And, frankly, people are tired of it. At least, the celebrities talking about politics part of it. On the flip side, famous people often feel pressure to take a public stand, to use their platform to speak out for or against various causes and concerns, only to then face criticism from all sides over how their platform is being used, whether they're doing enough to too much, and whether what they're doing is being done in the right or wrong way.

People are often skeptical of celebrity activism. Giphy

Perhaps that's why actor Noah Wyle's thoughts on celebrity activism feels like such a breath of fresh air. The ER alum and current star of the critically acclaimed medical drama The Pitt sat down with Life Stories and shared his approach to advocacy work, offering a refreshingly nuanced take. Wyle started working with Doctors of The World (similar to Doctors Without Borders but focused on longer-term, sustainable medical care) during his ER days in the late 1990s and has been a staunch advocate of better working conditions and mental health care for healthcare workers.

In his Life Stories interview, Wyle was asked to speak on celebrity advocacy: "There is a conflict sometimes about whether actors should speak out and should be listened to, and God knows there's sometimes backlash to that, particularly in politics…can you talk about that for a sec, the dichotomy?"

His response rejected the notion of simplifying people and issues into binary camps and categories.

"At the risk of offending, you know, I'm as wary of the well-intentioned liberal as I am of anybody else," he replied. "You know, the world's a complicated place, and I've worked with some people I really don't like very much to do some very noble work, and I've worked with some people I really love and wish they did more…You can't divide this up evenly among populations."

"Yes, there's a blowback to being a Hollywood personality that gives a sh__ about the world," he continued, "because your argument is so easily relegated to being that of a 'woke Hollywood commie liberal' you know, whatever. We have a population of people that have been consistently very active on social justice, and the people that don't like it when we speak out try to marginalize our voice and say it's a privileged class speaking out of its depth. And sometimes that's true. And sometimes it's just propaganda talking point."

Obama makes a woke joke. Giphy

Ah, nuance. Gosh, it's nice to see you. Wyle went on to explain how he handles the blowback.

"In my particular case, I try to combat it by being as articulate and as learned on the subject I'm speaking about as possible, so that when somebody wants to debate me, they get everything I know to establish my credibility or validity."

How about that. Knowledge, facts, expertise. Beautiful. Then he adds another layer of awesome.

"But also, the older I get I give less of a sh__ about having to defend my point of view against people who would make that argument. I'm trying to get to substance, right? I'm trying to get past those levels of infighting and squabbling to see where are our commonalities and where we can fix this stuff."

(Excuse me, I'm just going to read that last bit a few more times before we move on.)

Late Show The Mooch GIF by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Giphy

"So it's a blessing and a curse," Wyle continued. "Yes, you're giving them a microphone, and with it comes the weird optics of who you represent when you speak, but like we've already discussed, whether it's Mike Ferrell or James Cromwell or Martin Sheen or Marlon Brando or you know, you go back Paul Newman, there were people that had been walking and marching and fighting for social justice going back to the beginning of our industry. And I would rather count myself in those ranks."

Speaking of older celebrities, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, and other famous faces helped bring the media's attention to the civil rights activism of Martin Luther King, Jr., but as Wyle pointed out, their actions were not just putting a face on a cause.

March on Selma, 1965 Giphy

"When the cameras were off, Tony Bennett was doing concerts for people, for free, on the March on Selma. You know, people have shown up. They've shown up when the cameras were on, and they showed up when the cameras were off. It's just easier to make fun of them when the cameras are on," he said.

It's a good reminder not to label someone as "performative" unless we know for sure what they're doing for causes when the cameras are off. Sure, some celebrity advocacy is done for branding and PR's sake only, but many famous people are just people who happened to get famous. Noah Wyle's interview is a good reminder not to lump celebrities all together and discount the good work they do in the world simply because they're a part of Hollywood, and to focus on where people can find common ground in doing that work.

You can watch the whole Life Stories interview here:

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