With social media making it so easy for celebrities to share their immediate thoughts with their fans (and the world at large), many used their Facebook and Twitter accounts to share their thoughts concerning the U.S. election yesterday.
Bob Dylan
The most surprising of all, however, was Bob Dylan, who took to his Facebook page for the very first time yesterday to clarify comments that he’d made during a concert in Wisconsin the day before.
Here’s pretty close to what I said last night in Madison. I said from the stage that we had to play better than good tonight, that the president was here today and he’s a hard act to follow. Also, that we’re not fooled by the media and we think it’s going to be a landslide. That’s pretty much all of it.
– Bob Dylan
Despite the page being created in 2007 and having amassed over 4 million fans in the meantime, this was Dylan’s first entry and has so far gathered almost 31,000 ‘likes’ and over 2,600 comments.
At the other end of the spectrum, Ahmir Khalib Thompson, better known as Questlove, is one of the more prolific (and popular) members of the so-called Twitterverse, when he’s not DJing, producing, or drumming for hip-hop neo soul band The Roots. His profile on Twitter boasts a photo of him with President Obama and he’s naturally been a staunch supporter of his campaign from the beginning. Though, when all was said and done yesterday, his response was simple.
word to big bird. #Obama2012
Whether it was a home video of an elated Sheila E jumping, fully clothed, into her pool, incomprehensible tweets from Lady Gaga, or inspiring words from Janelle Monáe, the musical corner of the interwebs seemed overall to be pleased with seeing Obama return to the White House for a second term.
But not all musos were happy with the outcome.
63 year old rocker Ted Nugent sent out a stream of tweets yesterday, in which he referred to Obama supporters as “pimps whores & welfare brats”, “subhuman varmints” and “soulless supporters”.
Goodluk America u just voted for economic & spiritual suicide. Soulless fools
Back in April, Nugent announced that if Obama won a second term in office, he’d be “dead or in jail” by that time next year.
It’s probably for the best then that Ted doesn’t stumble across Henry Rollins’ latest blog entry at LA Weekly, where he announces, “The American People Kicked Your Ass, Republicans.”
His lengthy post started off by saying that he wasn’t one to gloat, but was rather just relieved, believing that the American people are better off for what happened.
But then, it wouldn’t be a Henry Rollins entry without a bit of a rant.
Republicans, these are your people: gay hating, vagina fearing phonies with their strange idea of rape who double down on dumb at every given opportunity. Well, at least you’ve got Clint Eastwood, Meatloaf and some Nascar-driving dipshits to keep you company. I know 1865 was hard to walk off but come on, y’all, stop embarrassing yourselves!
So from the delighted to the disgusted, the music world spoke at length last night (mostly 140 characters at a time), but whichever side they came down on, opinions were strong, loud and proud – there seemed to be very little in the way of middle ground.
Unless, of course, if you count Paul Kelly, who’s just announced an Australian tour next year with Neil Finn, who addressed the President directly from his Facebook page, complete with a cheeky little promotion.
To Barack Obama –
Congrats, Barry, on your fine election win. When the dust settles you may like to kick back with Spring and Fall. It’s out today in the US. PK
And with that, it’s time to get back to the music.
