Dwayne Johnson vs Politics: Should Actors Talk About Politics?

Dwayne Johnson vs Politics: Should Actors Talk About Politics?

Dwayne Johnson has faced a little bit of heat recently from Star Trek actors, George Takei and Wil Wheaton have recently called The Rock a “coward” for not being more active on social media talking about politics and not using his platform to discuss politics. What do I think about this? Is there some truth in what they are saying or is The Rock right to do so?

How This Started: So, I feel with this, it is important to talk about the origins of The Rock’s quotes. In June, Dwayne Johnson did an interview with Esquire Magazine where he said he will no longer talk publicly about politics. There are some other quotes from an interview he did in 2024. Where he said that he regrets endorsing President Joe Biden in 2020, not because of who he is, but because it divided his fans. This is what he said, “My goal is to bring this country together. I believe in that. There will be no endorsement. At this level of influence, I will keep my politics to myself. It is between me and the ballot box.” With the interview with Esquire, he added on to that and said this. “What I have learned through experience is that I need to keep the main thing. And the main thing for me, the thing that in the morning I swing my legs out of bed and I run towards, is creating. It is art. It is storytelling. I have learned I am going to keep my politics to myself…” The second quote, is the one that George Takei and Wil Wheaton have commented on, with Takei saying, “silence of complicity” and Wheaton saying, “so disappointing to find out he is such a coward.” That is the backstory on the context for these comments. 

My Thoughts

         This is a complicated subject to talk about because politics are so divisive and polarizing that no matter who you support, somebody is going to get mad at you. So, I am going to try and stay as natural as possible. 

For me, I found Takei and Wheaton’s comments to be foolish, and it seems obvious to me at least, why The Rock has been silent on social media about politics. If you follow Takei and Wheaton on social media, then you will know that they are both far left with their political views and very much anti-Trump. They are very much involved with the political side of the internet and know how toxic it can be. The fact that The Rock does not want to talk about politics publicly, should not be too surprising given the current political climate. The big thing to keep in mind here, is that The Rock is a crowd pleaser. If you watch interviews during the Black Adam press tour, he talked a lot about how listening to the fans helped guide and shape the movie and his career. His philosophy and world view on things really goes back to this idea of pleasing his fans and being a likable figure. So, he publicly endorses President Biden in 2020, and a lot of his fans get angry with him. When the next presidential election rolls around, he decides not to publicly endorse anybody for the sake of keeping a good reputation with the people and his fans. That I think is a valid reason and when you are The Rock and have been an entertainer for the past 25+ years, it is very reasonable and understandable that he will have the worldview of his fans. 

Beyond that, it is incredibly smart for The Rock not to get involved with politics. Due to the polarizing nature of politics, there are a lot of celebrities that are very vocal and active on social media that are discussing who to vote for in elections and using their platform to talk about politics. Celebrities have the right to do so and talk about politics, there’s freedom of speech for a reason and they should use that. At the same time, some celebrities need to hold back on how much they talk about politics and remember that they are a celebrity not a politician. Mark Ruffalo is active on social media and against Trump. There are people on both sides of the political spectrum that are tired of him because people became a fan of Mark Ruffalo because he is a great actor and he’s The Hulk, not because he has insightful political opinions. Because celebrities feel that they can say whatever they want about politics, some of them end up making very foolish statements. Pedro Pascal comparing Trump to Hitler, not the wisest thing to say publicly on social media. But that is what happens when you get celebrities talking publicly and openly about politics on social media, they say stupid and foolish things. 

George Takei and Wil Wheaton are not wrong in the statement that The Rock could use his platform to talk about politics and sway people in certain ways. But should he? I do not know if he must or if he should. There is the great Ian Malcolm quote from Jurassic Park of “your scientists got so preoccupied to think they could they didn’t stop to think if they should.” I think that quote can apply very easily to how celebrities talk about politics. They CAN talk about politics, but that does not mean that they should. Like I said, I support freedom of speech and think that is a good thing, but they should be careful how much they talk about politics and remember they are celebrities first and not politicians.