WASHINGTON (TNND) — Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Lawrence said in 2015 that a Donald Trump presidency would “be the end of the world,” but ten years later, Trump is in the middle of his second presidential term, the world is still intact, and Lawrence is now saying she’ll be keeping her political opinions to herself so as not to turn people off from her work.
“But as we’ve learned, election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for,” Lawrence shared with “The Interview” host Lulu Garcia-Navarro.
“So then what am I doing? I’m just sharing my opinion on something that’s going to add fuel to a fire that’s ripping the country apart. We are so divided.”
Lawrence’s conclusion that celebrities’ voicing their politics is not only unhelpful but could have negative consequences for both the artist and politician has been backed by a couple polls.
A 2019 study by Hill-HarrisX revealed that 65% of individuals say a celebrity’s endorsement has zero sway on how they vote. Only 11% of respondents to the poll said that a celebrity endorsement would increase the likelihood that they’d vote for a candidate. Nearly a quarter — 24% — said that a celebrity’s endorsement of a candidate would deter them from voting for that particular candidate.
And a 2018 poll by YouGov of British citizens echoed similar findings as 63% of individuals said a celebrity endorsement would have zero effect on their voting behavior. 25% of respondents said that a celebrity endorsement would have a negative impact and just 5% of voters said a celebrity could sway them.
Regardless, from Barbara Streisand to Taylor Swift, celebrities for decades have given their endorsements to and voiced their disapproval of political candidates, political movements and policies.
During the last presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris recruited Beyonce to speak at one of her rallies, and she received the endorsement of Taylor Swift — arguably the two most influential female artists in the country.
Meanwhile, Trump recruited comedian Tony Hinchcliffe to perform at his final rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and wrestling icon Hulk Hogan iconically tore his shirt on stage at the Republican National Convention, revealing a Trump Vance tank top underneath.
Now nearing the end of Trump’s first year back in office, Hollywood’s elite continue to be just as involved in Washington politics both condemning and praising, as well as collaborating with the White House. Meanwhile the president himself is also asserting his influence in the entertainment industry too.
Here are the top moments from popular culture crossing over into the political sphere in 2025:
Trump dubs Hollywood legends as “special envoys” and takes over the Kennedy Center
For starters, Trump tapped actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone to serve as his “special envoys” to Hollywood. In a social media post announcing the move in January, Trump explained he selected these actors to be in charge of overseeing the revival of the United States film industry, which Trump accused of having lost “much business over the last four years to foreign countries.” A report in April revealed that in the first quarter of 2025, Los Angeles saw a 22.4% drop in on-location production for movies and shows, compared to the same period the previous year.
In June, Voight met with California Gov. Gavin Newsom in Los Angeles in which he shared his proposal of rebuilding the American film industry which included plans of federal tax credits and tax code changes. Newsom, himself has unveiled his own plans to entice studios to film his state.
Meanwhile, Gibson and Stallone’s work as Trump’s ambassador to Hollywood has not been as publicized. But Stallone was honored at the 2025 Kennedy Awards, in which Trump was highly involved in the selection process.
On the red carpet, Stallone called Trump an “extraordinary human being,” applauding the president for his thoughtfulness and taking a genuine interest in his life.
Actor Kelsey Grammar, a guest at the ceremony, also echoed Stallone’s sentiment that Trump is “extraordinary.”
“He’s one of the greatest presidents we’ve ever had,” Grammar shared with Fox News Digital.
“Maybe the greatest. There are some things he still wants to get done, and I think that’s terrific, but there was a big hill to climb.”
In addition to Stallone, Trump honored country legend George Strait, the rock band KISS, musical theater actor Michael Crawford, and disco singer Gloria Gaynor.
The awards ceremony comes as earlier this year Trump took control of the Kennedy Center.
He fired several members of the board of trustees, including Chair David Rubenstein. Trump replaced Rubenstein with himself as the Chair. And weeks after the ceremony, the board of trustees announced the renaming of the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, a unanimous decision made by Trump’s new handpicked board.
But Trump’s cultural interests extend far beyond the newly dubbed Trump-Kennedy Center and reinvigorating Hollywood.
Trump’s ongoing feuds with late-night talk show hosts
When late night talk show Stephen Colbert, a longtime critic of Trump and the Make America Great America Great Again movement, announced in July that his show on CBS would not be renewed, the president took to Truth Social to celebrate.
The cancellation of Colbert’s show, which CBS said was “purely a financial decision,” coincided with CBS’s parent company Paramount Global in the midst of seeking approval from the Trump administration to merge with Skydance, which ultimately went through a week later.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial. “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert,” Trump wrote.
Months later, after Kimmel made a comment insinuating that Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin was aligned with MAGA, ABC made the decision to pull Kimmel’s show off the air indefinitely. Though the decision by ABC was made only after Trump’s Federal Communications Commissioner threatened to take action against the network for Kimmel’s comments.
“Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr said at the time.
Upon ABC’s decision to pull Kimmel from the air, Trump celebrated on TruthSocial, suggesting that only two talk show hosts in his cross-hairs remained: Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.
After a six-day hiatus, Kimmel’s show returned across all ABC stations.
Though the debacle garnered widespread criticism from liberals and conservatives alike, who argued that ABC was coerced by the Trump administration to pull Kimmel’s show. More than 400 celebrities took part in an open letter condemning the FCC’s comments.
Weeks after Kimmel was reinstated, actress Jane Fonda relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment, a free speech advocacy board created by her father Henry Fonda to fight back McCarthyism, which was the growing suspicion of Communism in American culture during the 1940s.
“The federal government is once again engaged in a coordinated campaign to silence critics in the government, the media, the judiciary, academia, and the entertainment industry,” the committee said in a statement.
“We refuse to stand by and let that happen.”
The statement includes signatures from notable actors and actresses like Whoopi Goldberg, Ethan Hawke, Spike Lee, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Barbra Streisand.
“I’m 87 years old. I’ve seen war, repression, protest, and backlash. I’ve been celebrated, and I’ve been branded an enemy of the state,” Jane Fonda said in a statement. “But I can tell you this: this is the most frightening moment of my life.”
Trump taps Nick Minaj to advocate for religious freedom in Nigeria
Meanwhile, as musical artists like SZA, Doechi, and Sabrina Carpenter decry Trump’s immigration enforcement policies; rapper Nicki Minaj joined forces with the Trump administration in November to raise awareness to the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. Alongside United Nations ambassador Michael Waltz, Minaj spoke before the UN Mission in New York.
“In Nigeria, Christians are being targeted, driven from their homes and killed,” Minaj said.
“Churches have been burned, families have been torn apart, and entire communities live in fear constantly, simply because of how they pray. Sadly, this problem is not only a growing problem in Nigeria, but also in so many other countries across the world, and it demands urgent action.”
Minaj first publicly threw her support behind Christian Nigerians when she tweeted on November 1, thanking Trump for taking the attacks perpetrated against Christian Nigerians “seriously.”
She has since weighed in on other issues, such as condemning Newsom’s support of transgenderism in children. She even joined Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk on stage at Americafest where she praised Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
“Dear young men, you have amazing role models like our handsome, dashing president and you have amazing role models like the assassin JD Vance, our vice president,” Minaj said.