10 Celebrities Who Are Surprisingly Conservative
Published on November 18, 2015.Usually, Hollywood is known as a bastion of progressive, liberal thinking — but lurking among those red carpets are a few conservatives, too. Some are more outspoken than others — but here are ten celebrities who will surprise you with their conservative views:
10. Clint Eastwood
Okay, maybe this one won’t surprise you, since Clint made a lot of headlines when he talked to a chair he pretended was President Obama back in 2012, when he was campaigning for Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention. When Extra interviewed the Dirty Harry star and Flags of Our Fathers director after his “performance,” he said of the backlash against him, “If somebody’s dumb enough to ask me to go to a political convention and say something, they’re gonna have to take what they get. People loved it or hated it and that’s fine. That’s what it was supposed to be.”
REX9. Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn is only 45, so he’s not in the same generation as Clint Eastwood — but he’s a conservative, too. In an interview with GQ magazine earlier this year, he vocally supported the rights of gun owners, saying that we should protect our kids by having guns in schools. “You think the politicians that run my country and your country don’t have guns in the schools their kids go to? They do,” he said, adding, “It’s well known that the greatest defense against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back.” He continued, “We should be allowed the same rights. Banning guns is like banning forks in an attempt to stop making people fat. Taking away guns, drugs, booze … It won’t rid the world of criminality.” Finally, he explained, “It’s not about duck hunting, it’s about the ability of the individual. It’s the same reason we have freedom of speech.”
Broadimage/REX8. Angie Harmon
Rizzoli & Isles star Angie Harmon calls herself a “liberal Republican,” and says that isn’t very popular in her chosen field. “Call it naïveté or stupidity, but I didn’t know that unless you are a Democrat, you aren’t allowed to talk politics in Hollywood,” she said. She also told FoxNews that she’s not a racist because she disagrees with President Obama, and that she “admires” Sarah Palin. “I admire any kind of woman like her,” Angie said. “My whole motto is to know what I stand for and know what I don’t stand for and have the courage to live my life accordingly and she does exactly that. The fact that this woman has made the decisions she’s made and literally lived her life according to that and takes heat for it is absolutely disgusting to me,” she added. “I really think they’re afraid of her and her morals, ethics and values and the fact that she hangs on them. Is she the most experienced person in the world? But she was running to be the Vice President, so we then put the most inexperienced person as the President. That didn’t make any sense to me.”
Rob Latour/WWD/REX7. Stacy Dash
We were all surprised when Clueless star Stacy Dash came out as conservative. Earlier this year, she released a book called There Goes My Social Life, which chronicles how her life changed after she went public with her conservative views. “Dash shocked the upper echelons of the movie and music industries when she announced that she was sick of being disappointed by the Obama White House and endorsed Mitt Romney for president on Twitter. The backlash was swift and brutal,” her publisher Regnery said in a statement. Liberals were also appalled when Stacy, a FoxNews correspondent, bashed Patricia Arquette for talking about women’s pay equality in her Oscar acceptance speech.
Erik Pendzich/Rex6. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
The Fast and the Furious star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson might not seem like he’s a Republican, but he is registered with the Republican Party in the state of California. We’re not totally sure we can call him a conservative, though, since he also once appeared at a Democratic National Convention and also got in a tiff with Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie after he claimed Christie used his name and likeness without permission.
Richard Young/REX5. Joe Perry
Aerosmith musician Joe Perry is clear about his support of Republican ideals. He said in a 2012 interview, “I’m a Republican, but I’m a Republican from the old school…My favorite president was actually John Kennedy. Oh, and Eisenhower. I don’t think we’ve had anyone like those guys since Reagan, but you need somebody you can believe in…The bottom line is I’m a definite old-school Republican and you can put that in there. I was one of the few people that came out for McCain and got a lot of shit for it. There’s an awful lot of people out there in L.A. that were jumping up and down for Obama that aren’t right now.” He also went on Twitter to defend Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson after Robertson went on a homophobic, racist tirade (Joe says he stands up for free speech).
Amy Harris/REX4. Peyton Manning
Denver Broncos quarterback is a conservative Christian — and he puts his money where his mouth is. He has donated more than $14,000 to Republican national campaigns since 2004, including $2,000 to the re-election campaign of former President George W. Bush. This year, he’s given Republican Presidential candidate Jeb Bush $2,700, which is the maximum amount the Federal Election Commission will allow an individual to contribute to a primary campaign.
Dee Cercone/Everett Collection3. Caitlyn Jenner
You might be surprised to hear that transgender athlete-turned-reality star Caitlyn Jenner is not a Democrat. Although she gave Obama credit for being the first President to ever use the word “transgender” in a State of the Union address this year, she also told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer that she’s a Republican. “I believe in the Constitution,” was her explanation. She said she knows that members of the Republican party might not support a transgender woman, but that she would talk to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “in a heartbeat” about LGBT issues. “I think they’d be very receptive to it,” she claimed. Hmm, good luck with that.
Photo by Rob Latour/Variety/REX Shutterstock2. Britney Spears
Louisiana-born pop star Britney Spears has supported President Obama, but also George W. Bush. When CNN asked the “Toxic” singer in 2003 about the report of weapons of mass destruction that turned out to be false, she said of George W. Bush, “Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.” Her Southern Baptist upbringing may have something to do with her conservative beliefs — but she’s one of those celebrities who doesn’t always stick to the party lines.
Photo by Broadimage/REX Shutterstock1. Adam Sandler
Another star who has donated to Republican campaigns is actor Adam Sandler, who is also a registered Republican (something that surprises people, since he’s also Jewish). In 2007, the Grown Ups star donated $2,100 to Republican Rudy Giuliani’s failed presidential campaign. He also performed at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City. However, not all Sandler’s views are conservative: he’s said that he supports gay marriage.
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