Elton John’s comments in an interview about his new book with National Public Radio this week reveal the essence of what is wrong with the Hollywood left-wing mindset: wealthy stars want the government, and taxpayers, to support their favorite causes, but often aren’t prepared to give of their own time or money to do the same.
I don’t mean to pick on Elton John. He’s certainly shown greater political tolerance than some of his fellow Hollywood mega-stars–whether playing Rush Limbaugh’s wedding or colliding with Eminem at the Grammys. Yet his comments in an interview about his new book with National Public Radio this week reveal the essence of what is wrong with the Hollywood left-wing mindset: wealthy stars want the government, and taxpayers, to support their favorite causes, but often aren’t prepared to give of their own time or money to do the same.
The issue, in this case, is funding for HIV/AIDS organizations, which was cut by Florida governor Rick Scott. John wrote to the governor’s office in protest, and NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep asked John to tell his side of the exchange:
INSKEEP: One other thing I want to ask about: You – in this book, in addition to talking about how Ryan White affected your life, how your attitude toward AIDS changed, how you became an activist; you argue pretty strongly against politicians today, American politicians today. You even talk about a – maybe a run-in is too strong a word – but an exchange of notes that you had with Rick Scott, the governor of Florida. What got you involved there?
JOHN: We’re an AIDS organization. And whenever anybody’s funding is cut – and it’s usually cut, especially in this case in Florida, for the people that can afford it least, to have their funding cut – then we’re going to write a letter about it. And we wrote a letter to the governor himself. We have to pay attention to things like that. We can’t take our eye off the ball.
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