(Matt Lamb, Headline USA) Left-wing mouthpiece and former blackface model Joy Behar was rebuffed after uncomfortably pressuring the rapper Usher Raymond to share his private political views and risk alienating millions of fans.
The influential entertainer is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election but said people needed to make their own decisions when it comes to voting.
“I don’t get too deep into politics,” Raymond said, although “I obviously have been watching [the race] like everybody else.”
Behar, co-host of The View, made the comments during Wednesday’s show after discussing singer Taylor Swift’s strategically timed endorsement of Harris following Tuesday night’s presidential debate.
She commended Raymond for standing behind the vice president, even as a growing number of black, male voters—including several high-profile rappers—have gravitated toward GOP nominee Donald Trump.
“In this emergency that we’re in, I think that it behooves artists to just come out and speak for Kamala, against Donald Trump, ’cause he is an existential threat to the country—what do you say to that,” Behar said .
Raymond responded that people’s choice and how they wanted to share it was their own prerogative.
“You have to look at the reality of the country that we are, and the country that we want to be, and find the candidate that you feel both … fits the category of where we want to be,” he said.
Other celebrities have also encouraged people to make their own choices.
For example, WNBA star Angel Reese declined to say whom she was supporting for president.
“I haven’t been able to tap a lot into the political election and everything going on,” the Chicago Sky player told a podcaster in August, when asked for her opinion. “So, I’m not that educated…right now, but I just continue to learn and give feedback.”
