Kirstie Alley Makes A Head-Turning Comparison To The Republican Party
Kirstie Alley may have made a name for herself as a Hollywood actor, but she currently claims to be operating in what can only be described as inhospitable conditions because of her political beliefs. During an interview on Fox Nation's "Tucker Carlson Today," Alley said her support for former President Donald Trump has made her something of an outcast in an industry known for its more liberal views. "You can be cooking meth and sleeping with hookers, but as long as you didn't vote for Trump ... I feel like I'm in the 'Twilight Zone' a bit, with the whole concept of it," she said (via Deadline).
Alley hasn't always been an outspoken Republican, because she supported former President Barack Obama throughout his time as president. She said it was only when Hillary Clinton was named the Democrats' presidential standard-bearer in 2016 that she decided to make the switch, which she also says cost her followers on social media. "On Twitter, I had many celebrities follow me, and now I think three follow me," she said.
Nothing has changed, Alley says: "I'm the same person. I'm the girl who voted for Obama, twice. And I'm like, 'Oh, so you liked me when I voted for Obama, and now you're this?"'
Other Republicans in show business feel the same way
Kirstie Alley isn't the only actor in Hollywood to come out and say that she was being ostracized for her political views. Stacey Dash, who played Dionne in "Clueless," said being a conservative in show business can be lonely. "You're tolerated only if you fit their liberal profile. I've been blacklisted. I don't even get to auditions," she told The Guardian in 2018. Like Alley, Dash said she had voted for Barack Obama, but became a Trump supporter because she considers Obama to be a "socialist" and a "divider."
Actors James Woods, who retired from the industry in 2017, Kelsey Grammer, and Jon Voight are also card-carrying Trump Republicans. In 2017, Grammer said that being a member of the GOP was "like having a target on your back (via The Irish News), while Voight, who is the father of Angelina Jolie, has called Trump "an answer to the country's problems, and that the electorate needed to get behind him" (via Insider).