Entertainment Industry Didn’t Get November’s Memo: Americans Are Tired of Your Political Rants

Conan O’Brien is one of our generation’s greatest comedians. His self-deprecating humor legitimately spans cultures and connects with audiences around the globe in a way that no one else really can.

One of O’Brien’s attributes is his ability to not go far-left in his political commentary. It’s strange to call that an attribute, but every single late-night host or comedian of his stature seems to have caught a debilitating case of Trump derangement syndrome—he’s the exception.

O’Brien was rightfully honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor this year At the Kennedy Center—and his acceptance speech pushed the boundaries of his nonpolitical nature, sounding more like a pseudo-intellectual NPR lecture on the dangers of President Donald Trump rather than his typical fun-loving humor.

Here’s one excerpt, and I would encourage you to either watch or read his entire speech for context:

Twain was suspicious of populism, jingoism, imperialism, the money-obsessed mania of the Gilded Age, and any expression of mindless American might or self-importance. Above all, Twain was a patriot in the best sense of the word. He loved America but knew it was deeply flawed. Twain wrote, “Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it.”

This statement was met with a round of loud applause from the Kennedy Center’s leftist audience—and was the perfect dog whistle to them.

In the first sentence, O’Brien claims that Mark Twain wouldn’t like Trump, capitalism, or nationalism. He casts a broad net to capture the hearts of an audience angry that Kamala Harris lost the presidential election just five short months ago. 

Translated, he was saying, “Do you hate Trump’s populism as well as America’s free market economy, strength, and love for itself? Then you’re just like Mark Twain … and that makes you a patriot.”

O’Brien then added the famous Twain quote that basically calls for everyone in the audience to protest their government: “Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it.”

It’s to be expected that his speech and the entire event would be anti-Trump, so I’m not personally angered by it—I’m just exhausted by the whole thing.

I’ve reached my Laura Ingraham “shut up and dribble” moment.

We get it. You don’t like Trump—basically no one in Hollywood does. I, like more than half of this country, would just like to be entertained without a political lecture for once.

And yes, I understand your belief that you must, “speak truth to power,” but when literally everyone else is doing it, that base is covered.

Have you ever boarded a flight and seemingly everyone is in the “special” Group 1 when they board? If everyone is in Group 1, no one is special.

If everyone in entertainment is speaking “truth to power,” then it just becomes part of the modus operandi of entertainment—and even more people tune out.

I’m not trying to control what Conan O’Brien says or does, nor should anyone—but this speech made me sigh and roll my eyes. 

The 2024 election proved that a majority of Americans are tired of liberalism—and even more so, the failing film and entertainment industry. This should be a lesson to those who hold the microphone: Just be entertaining and give the same, tired political lectures a rest.

The post Entertainment Industry Didn’t Get November’s Memo: Americans Are Tired of Your Political Rants appeared first on The Daily Signal.