Joy Behar bashes actor Billy Bob Thornton for saying he doesn't want to force his politics on others. She demands celebrities "use your platform" to "have an influence." Sunny Hostin agrees saying America is "at a crisis point" with Trump and "silence is complicity":
BILLY BOB THORNTON: I don’t know anything about politics. I have no idea. I mean - and the stuff I believe about it, I don't want to force it down somebody else's throat because I'm not an expert on that.
[Cuts back to live]
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: All right.
JOY BEHAR: Yeah, imagine bragging about how uninformed you are.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yeah.
BEHAR: You know?
SARA HAINES: Well, I think he's saying it’s more ‘I'm not an expert, so my opinion -‘
BEHAR: ‘I don't know anything about politics.’ You've an American citizen. Don’t you watch the news? Don't you read the paper? Come on.
HAINES: I do think the civic participation. Our vote is a privilege that so many have died for and fought for that to be participating in our political structure, you need to inform yourself enough to vote. I don't think that every celebrity needs to scream from the mountaintop what their thoughts are because I'd rather see them march door to door to recruit people voting and in your local government, helping people -
BEHAR: No, but they have an influence. I mean, Springsteen right now and Robert de Niro have big audiences.
[Crosstalk]
[Applause]
BEHAR (waving Haines off): And so does - Wait a minute! So does Jon Voight and Kid Rock. Okay? They have -- all of them have the right to speak out.
HAINES: They do.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: Use your platform! Use it!
HAINES: The only people applauding them though are people that agree with them.
HOSTIN: I think you have an obligation. We are at a crisis point -
BEHAR: That's right.
HOSTIN: - in this country. I think democracy is participatory. I think when you have a platform, that means I have an outsized voice and when you have a platform, I think that you have a responsibility to speak up about what's going on in this country. And my view, silence is complicity. We need every single ally to speak out.
BEHAR: And every minute, every day we’re getting closer - Every day we get closer to a autocracy in this country!
HOSTIN: Correct.
BEHAR: We're about to lose it! I think people don’t seem to understand what’s going on!
I wish more celebs were like Billy Bob.....and not just in their politics.
