Actress Tatiana Maslany isn’t interested in the idea that entertainers should stay out of politics. In an appearance this week on the podcast “We’re Not Kidding” with commentator Mehdi Hasan, the “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” star said that refusing to take political positions is itself a choice — and not a flattering one.
According to The Daily Wire, Maslany argued that art can’t be separated from the world it depicts. “Artists are like mirrors to the world, to society,” she said. “We have to name things … it’s, like, such an important, intrinsic part of our job.”
The 41-year-old Canadian actress’s remarks came as Hasan brought up two famously apolitical sports and entertainment figures: “Magnum P.I.” star Tom Selleck and basketball legend Michael Jordan. Hasan recounted that Selleck, when pressed on why he wasn’t among the celebrities criticizing President Donald Trump, explained he didn’t “dabble in politics” because he didn’t “understand why you want to piss off half the country if your job is entertaining the country.” Hasan also invoked Jordan’s well-known line about Republicans buying sneakers too.
Maslany rejected that logic outright. “But, all of it is political, like, everything is political,” she said. “All entertainment is political, because it has a viewpoint, and it has a perspective. It has visual representation of the world we live in or the kinds of things that are funny or acceptable.”
She said there is “no disconnect” between entertainment and politics in her view, and argued the two men have material reasons to stay quiet. “And, to me, those are two very rich men who stand to lose a lot if they stand up for something,” Maslany said. “Art should destabilize people too.”
‘It’s so cowardly’
Maslany also joked about what a politically engaged Selleck might sound like in character. “I mean, I’m not thinking Tom Selleck is going, like, ‘Magnum, P.I. should …'” she said with a laugh, adding a political statement from him would “really, really disturb people on a core level.” Still, she returned to her broader point about art’s role. “But, like, art moves people,” she said. “Whether that’s in, like, a shock way, a laughter way, all of it. It’s a communication with the world.”
Her assessment of the reluctance to engage was blunt. “It’s such a bizarre mentality. It’s so cowardly,” Maslany said of Selleck’s and Jordan’s approaches.
The actress hasn’t limited her political commentary to the question of celebrity silence. On the same podcast, Maslany said she opposes the proposed merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. In her view, consolidation would narrow the range of stories that reach audiences.
“It’s going to make all the output that we have, any content that we create, go through a filter of this sort of conservative ideology or be gatekept in a way that we can’t make shows that say anything about the current administration, even in a veiled way,” she told Hasan.
Maslany added that she has “heard of shows being canceled for that very reason” and described the prospect as “limiting, limiting, limiting, like, the kinds of voices we can hear from. All of that. All of that stuff.”
The Daily Wire’s write-up disputed her framing, noting that left-leaning perspectives have dominated Hollywood for years. The outlet also characterized Maslany’s Marvel series, “She-Hulk: Attorney At Law,” as a flop when it premiered in 2022 and aired for nine episodes.
A longstanding argument in Hollywood
Maslany’s comments land in a debate that keeps resurfacing in the entertainment industry: whether performers have a duty to speak on politics or whether audiences are best served when they don’t. Selleck’s position — that a performer risks alienating half the paying public — has echoed through the careers of stars who built broad, cross-partisan fanbases. The counterargument, which Maslany is now making explicitly, is that neutrality is a stance of its own, and often a privileged one.
Where a star lands on that question can depend on a lot: the size and nature of their audience, the genre they work in, and how directly their projects engage current events. Maslany, whose Marvel role made her a familiar name to a wide streaming audience, has chosen the more confrontational path, framing political engagement not as an extra duty but as part of the job description.
Whether that framing wins converts in an industry that still measures success partly by how many people show up regardless of their politics is an open question. Maslany, for her part, doesn’t appear to be looking for the middle ground. “There’s no disconnect, in my mind,” she said.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/actress-hulks-out-over-celebrities-who-dont-get-political