{"id":2415690,"date":"2026-05-13T22:09:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T22:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2415690"},"modified":"2026-05-13T22:09:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T22:09:16","slug":"the-view-hosts-slam-billy-bob-thornton-for-calling-out-celebrity-political-lectures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-view-hosts-slam-billy-bob-thornton-for-calling-out-celebrity-political-lectures\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The View\u2019 hosts slam Billy Bob Thornton for calling out celebrity political lectures"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

Billy Bob Thornton<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s remarks dismissing celebrity political lectures sparked a debate on The View<\/em>, where Joy Behar<\/strong><\/a> and Sunny Hostin<\/strong> criticized his stance while Alyssa Farah Griffin<\/strong><\/a> and Sara Haines<\/strong> defended his right to stay apolitical.<\/p>\n

Thornton, known for his role in Landman<\/em>, discussed the issue on the \u201cHowie Mandel Does Stuff\u201d podcast while explaining why he avoids political commentary. Referencing Ricky Gervais<\/strong><\/a>\u2019 Golden Globes monologue, he said, \u201cGet your little award and f\u2014 off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thornton added, \u201cI don\u2019t know anything about politics. I have no idea. And the stuff that I do believe, I don\u2019t want to force it down somebody else\u2019s throat because I\u2019m not an expert on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reaction on The View<\/h2>\n

Whoopi Goldberg<\/strong><\/a> appeared largely unbothered and offered little pushback.<\/p>\n

Behar responded critically, saying, \u201cImagine bragging about how uninformed you are.\u201d She later argued that citizens should remain informed about politics.<\/p>\n

Hostin took a stronger stance, saying, \u201cWe are at a crisis point in this country. I think democracy is participatory\u2026 silence is complicity. We need every single ally to speak out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>
\n

Clooney\u2019s activism has included humanitarian work in Sudan. By: ZUMAPRESS.com \/ MEGA<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Griffin defended Thornton, noting, \u201cBilly Bob Thornton is one of my favorite actors\u2026 but a lot of this table criticized George Clooney<\/strong><\/a> when he wrote his Biden op-ed.\u201d She argued that free speech includes both speaking out and remaining silent.<\/p>\n

Haines agreed, saying celebrity political statements often \u201cpreach to the choir\u201d and alienate people who disagree.<\/p>\n

George Clooney comparison<\/h2>\n

Griffin reminded her co-hosts that some criticized Clooney after he published a New York Times<\/em> op-ed urging former President Joe Biden<\/strong><\/a> to step aside from the 2024 race. She argued celebrities should not be pressured to speak only when their views align with certain political positions.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Biden\u2019s<\/div>
\n

Biden\u2019s campaign faced scrutiny from Hollywood figures, showing divisions among celebrity voices. By: Mattsymons \/ MEGA<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Behar replied, \u201cHe can say it, and I can criticize it, that\u2019s called free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griffin also criticized what she called \u201cslacktivism,\u201d where celebrities make statements without meaningful political involvement. \u201cI don\u2019t think we should bully people, saying, \u2018You have to speak out,\u2019\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Thornton has expressed similar views. During an appearance on \u201cThe Joe Rogan Experience,\u201d he and Rogan criticized politically outspoken celebrities and both major American political parties.<\/p>\n

Thornton described himself as a \u201cradical moderate\u201d and called for a \u201ccommon sense party.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the interview, he said, \u201cFirst of all, unless you have really studied stuff and really know about a subject fully, who the h*** would want to listen to an actor or a musician talk about politics? It\u2019s like, \u2018Are we supposed to follow this?\u2019 If we are, what if they lead you down the wrong road? Politically, I call myself a radical moderate. I\u2019m very strong in my opinions, but my opinions don\u2019t belong to any political party. I just look at what makes sense, and I think we need a common-sense party in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aol.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Billy Bob Thornton\u2019s remarks dismissing celebrity political lectures sparked a debate on The View, where Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin criticized his stance while Alyssa Farah Griffin and Sara Haines defended his right to stay apolitical. Thornton, known for his role in Landman, discussed the issue on the \u201cHowie Mandel Does Stuff\u201d podcast while explaining […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2415691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[357930,115196,32720,355818,356875,405343,352463,357931,357928],"class_list":["post-2415690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-alyssa-farah-griffin","tag-billy-bob-thornton","tag-george-clooney","tag-joy-behar","tag-political-commentary","tag-ricky-gervais","tag-sara-haines","tag-sunny-hostin","tag-whoopi-goldberg"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/\u2018The-View-hosts-slam-Billy-Bob-Thornton-for-calling-out.com2Fen2Faol_wonderwall_7342Fe6bb7b921f19162e822586af564ede6d.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2415690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2415692,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415690\/revisions\/2415692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2415691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2415690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2415690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2415690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}