Hilary Swank - Not the First Celeb to Make a Political Gaffe
Actress Hilary Swank has caught some heat for being one of a couple of American celebrities who attended the birthday bash of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. The actress who won awards for "Million Dollar Baby" and "Boys Don't Cry" was spotted at the party with Belgian muscle-man Jean-Claude Van Damme. Human rights groups are up in arms over Swank's attendance since Kadyrov has a reputation of enforcing his power in Chechnya by using torture and homicide. Undoubtedly, the American actress was there thanks to a generous personal appearance fee.
According The Human Rights Foundation, the former "Karate Kid" can't claim ignorance of the issues either. They reportedly provided her and her staff a letter that detailed Kadyrov's transgressions. Apparently at the time, Swank's reps said that she had no intention of going to the party. A video has surfaced however that shows her at the party.
Swank is definitely not the first celebrity to get into hot water over showing up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Recently ousted Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddhafi ensnared three singers in his web in 2007 when he got Nelly Furtado, Beyonce and Mariah Carey to perform at his birthday party. The public was outraged that the performers would take a paycheck from a man with such a long history of human and civil rights violations. Furtado and and Beyonce did end up donating their appearance fees to charity once the brouhaha was born.
Some celebrities end up actually losing work over comments they make. For instance, in the wake of the terrible earthquakes in Japan earlier this year, comedian Gilbert Gottfried tweeted a slew of jokes that were inappropriate at best. His corporate employers, the insurance company Geico, was infuriated (a lot of their business comes from Japan). They fired Gottfried as the voice of their talking duck mascot, a job he'd held for over a decade.
This of course raises the questions over what celebrities should do in terms of personal appearances. Should there be laws enacted that keep celebrities from taking money from known dictators? Is this a First Amendment issue, or one of just good taste? Ultimately, the decision for now rests with each celebrity, though clearly in this digital age, any controversial decision they make can have instant ramifications.
How do you think Hilary Swank should respond to this incident? Drop us a comment and let us know!
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According The Human Rights Foundation, the former "Karate Kid" can't claim ignorance of the issues either. They reportedly provided her and her staff a letter that detailed Kadyrov's transgressions. Apparently at the time, Swank's reps said that she had no intention of going to the party. A video has surfaced however that shows her at the party.
Swank is definitely not the first celebrity to get into hot water over showing up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Recently ousted Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddhafi ensnared three singers in his web in 2007 when he got Nelly Furtado, Beyonce and Mariah Carey to perform at his birthday party. The public was outraged that the performers would take a paycheck from a man with such a long history of human and civil rights violations. Furtado and and Beyonce did end up donating their appearance fees to charity once the brouhaha was born.
Some celebrities end up actually losing work over comments they make. For instance, in the wake of the terrible earthquakes in Japan earlier this year, comedian Gilbert Gottfried tweeted a slew of jokes that were inappropriate at best. His corporate employers, the insurance company Geico, was infuriated (a lot of their business comes from Japan). They fired Gottfried as the voice of their talking duck mascot, a job he'd held for over a decade.
This of course raises the questions over what celebrities should do in terms of personal appearances. Should there be laws enacted that keep celebrities from taking money from known dictators? Is this a First Amendment issue, or one of just good taste? Ultimately, the decision for now rests with each celebrity, though clearly in this digital age, any controversial decision they make can have instant ramifications.
How do you think Hilary Swank should respond to this incident? Drop us a comment and let us know!
More from this Contributor:
Kanye West and Other Celebs Occupy the Occupy Movement
Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Join the Yahoo! Contributor Network here to start publishing your own articles.
Published by James Schlarmann - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment
Writer, musician, comedian and social commentator. James started performing stand-up and sketch comedy in 1998, and has since also branched out into writing movie reviews and social commentary on social and... View profile
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1 Comments
Post a CommentI'm not someone who usually comments about this sort of thing, and I don't feel strongly about Hilary Swank's decision. It's her call and she'll have to live with any fallout there may be. I love her acting and don't know anything about the reasons behind her personal choices, nor do I particularly care. As long as she's good at her job, that's what matters to me. What business of it is mine what she does in her free time.
I actually wanted to comment on your mentioning of Gilbert Gottfried. I could be wrong, but it was my understanding that he had been employed by Aflac, and not Geico. Is Geico the parent company or something? As for his jokes, I didn't find them particularly offensive, but they were poorly timed (definitely) and just plain old NOT funny. Then again, I haven't found him all that funny since I was a kid.