They’ve Thrown Off The Progressive Shackles – Meet The Red-Pilled Celebrities

Hollywood is uniformly leftist. But if you look close enough, you can spot the exceptions.

A few right-leaning stars grab the lion’s share of the headlines. Think Jon Voight, Nick Searcy of “Terror on the Prairie” fame, Tim Allen, Kelsey Grammer, and Kristy Swanson.

There’s a new group of stars who may join them soon. They aren’t officially conservative, and it’s up for grabs what levers they’ll pull in 2024, but they’ve publicly thrown off the progressive shackles.

Reality red-pilled them.

Russell Brand

The bawdy Brit broke out, big time, via his supporting work in 2008’s “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Hollywood thanked him with a movie career (“Get Him to the Greek,” “Arthur,” “Rock of Ages”), and he used his newfound fame to push his hard-Left, nay socialist, philosophies.

He blamed the West for the rise of ISIS, demanded wealth distribution and, like many socialists, the uber-wealthy star didn’t practice what he preached. He shared his progressive dogma in books (2014’s “Revolution”), podcasts (“The Trews”), and very public protests.

Yet when the media and Hollywood alike pounded President Donald Trump for four years, Brand whistled a different tune. He and Matthew McConaughey asked their Hollywood peers for compassion, not rage when it came  to MAGA nation.

That may have been the start of Brand’s startling transformation.

His current YouTube channel boasts more than 5.7 million subscribers. His funny and biting video rants shred media hypocrisy, COVID overreach, fake news, Big Tech censorship and so much more.

He hasn’t officially cut ties with his old belief systems, but it’s clear current events have had a dramatic impact on his state of mind.

Joe Rogan

It’s hard to remain a rock-ribbed liberal when the woke mob wants your hide. Rogan’s meteoric rise to podcast superstardom transformed this Regular Joe into the ultimate influencer. But when he started questioning COVID groupthink, the usual suspects turned on him.

Neil Young kick-started the cancellation attempt by saying he didn’t want to share a platform like Spotify with Rogan’s so-called fake news reports. The Left and mainstream media (but we repeat ourselves) savaged Rogan as a result. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek stood strong, though, knowing Rogan’s popularity and free speech principles hung in the balance.

But Rogan’s red-pill journey had begun before this cancellation attempt. 

The comic and UFC commentator has also questioned President Joe Biden’s mental state, wondered why media bias grew so much worse in recent years, and refused to think healthy 20-somethings should automatically get the COVID jab.

Some feared Rogan might un-red-pill himself after his brush with cancel culture. If anything, he’s doubled down on his contrarian views. Case in point? He recently argued Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) would make a good president.

Rob Schneider

Mr. “Deuce Bigalow” himself was once considered part of Hollywood’s liberal community. He wasn’t as aggressively political as, say, Stephen Colbert, but he didn’t rush to any right-leaning causes.

That was then.

Today, the “Saturday Night Live” alum is one of Twitter’s foremost proponents of free speech, shredding government overreach and demanding less censorship across the board.

Here’s a typical tweet from the “new” Schneider:

The idea of censoring someone is when you know your own ideas are so weak and feeble they can’t be defended & hoping the other ideas will just go away.
If you you truly believe your ideas are just & right,offer them up for debate & dissuade others with them#FreeSpeechIsAllSpeech pic.twitter.com/jWb0o1mwqW

— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) January 10, 2021

Schneider even attended the world premiere of “Terror on the Prairie,” The Daily Wire’s Western starring Gina Carano and Nick Searcy. That kind of Hollywood bravery would never happen without a red-pill transformation.

Schneider won’t be wearing a red MAGA hat anytime soon, but it’s clear he’s leaning to the Right on most cultural issues.

Another tweet summed up his current state of mind:

I am classical 1970’s Liberal.
Which today makes me a true conservative. https://t.co/pfNz6HENDe

— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) September 18, 2020

Kirstie Alley

The “Cheers” alum spent decades in Hollywood without entering the political fray. She voted for Barack Obama — twice — but later warmed up to a certain real estate mogul. Twitter allowed her to open up about her views and she’s been questioning the Left’s orthodoxy as a result.

Once again, reality helped shape her transformation. She watched the 2020 George Floyd protests spiral out of control and described it as a potential red-pill moment.

Take the red pill… it’s a system not a person … unless u want growing years of “CHOP” shops coming to a town near you…Or your front yard…Or inside your living room. Take the red pill

PS impeach Pelosi

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) June 29, 2020

Embracing the Right, let alone President Donald Trump, cost her plenty. She told Tucker Carlson in 2021 that her Trump support all but ended her Hollywood career.

“You can be cooking meth and sleeping with hookers, as long as apparently you didn’t vote for Trump. I feel like I’m in The Twilight Zone a bit, with the whole concept of it.”

Bill Maher

The veteran comic is both the least red-pilled and yet most vocal of the bunch.

The host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” remains a loyal Democrat, at least at the ballot box. His pay cable showcase, though, brims with attacks against his own party — the kind the rest of his late-night peers won’t touch.

Maher rages against woke overreach, bubble-dwelling Democrats, and progressives who believe little children are suddenly embracing the trans movement on their own.

He’d argue that it’s tough love, hoping his wisecracks will nudge the current Democratic Party back to something akin to the center.

It doesn’t seem to be working, but Maher goes to work each Friday night attempting to change their minds. Perhaps in the future, he’ll give the GOP a try.

Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at @HollywoodInToto.

The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.