Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 11/05/24

Avengers assemble! The great American rumble for democracy is here as partisans for both sides are putting in their final push to get out there voters. Vice President Kamala Harris is leaning heavily into the appeal of her backers among the Hollywood and entertainment industry elite where she has a distinct advantage over former President Trump. Cue up the one-name wonders such as Beyoncé, Cher,  Lizzo, Madonna, Oprah, and P!nk. Then, of course, there’s Stevie Wonder followed but the usual list of glitterati such as JJ Abrams, Jason Bateman, Jeff Bridges, Jamie Lee Curtis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Andy Cohen, Will Ferrell, Lady Gaga, Anne Hathaway and a profoundly profane Will Ferrell. While real-life law and order unions are siding with Trump, Harris has nailed down endorsements from TV’s Law & Order universe (Mariska Hargitay, Ice T and Sam Waterston). Other celebs of varying degrees of cultural relevance on the K-list include Mindy Kaling, Spike Lee, Stephen King, John Legend, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Matthew Modine,Willie Nelson, Bill Nye, Sarah Jessica Parker, Julia Roberts, Bruce Springsteen, Howard Stern, Ben Stiller, Barbra Streisand, Taylor Swift, Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon.

But those are just mere mortals. It’s America’s superheroes that impress me! Harris has the comic book Avengers rallying to her side (i.e. Robert Downey Jr./Iron Man/Tony Stark, Don Cheadle/the aptly-named War Machine, Mark Ruffalo/The Incridible Hulk, Scarlett Johansson/Black Widow, Paul Bettany/Vision, Danai Gurira/Okoye and Chris Evans/Captain America). In case you missed it, here’s their cringe-worthy endorsement video in which someone imagined the term “Down with Democracy” to be a really cool and edgy catchphrase.

Besides, Tony Stark, Kamala also has billionaire Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) twice! – in the form of both that everyman George Clooney and Michael Keaton (who issues a helpful warning to men about Trump and Elon Musk).

Speaking of Musk, he’s leading the real-life Avengers (or, if you prefer, X-Men), an assembly of diverse political rebels that includes astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Tulsi Gabbard, Hulk Hogan, RFK Jr., racer Danica Patrick, Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump’s own running-mate J.D. Vance and Breaking News: Joe Rogan (aka the Podcast King).

While real X-Man Elon Musk exposed the Twitter Files that revealed an unnerving relationship between Big Government, Big Tech and Big Media, Harris has the support of the actor who played Fox Mulder who investigated the fictional X-Files on TV and in the movies. Meanwhile, she’s also backed by Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz who, in retrospect, many people have come to view more as more as super-villains than a superheroes.

Among other superheroes, Harris has Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Star Trek‘s Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and, let’s not forget, the thoughtful F bomb-heavy endorsement issued by none other than Hellboy (Ron Perlman). My rule of thumb is if you’re cursing you’re losing.

Superheroes for Trump include Hercules (Kevin Sorbo), Shazam (Zachary Levi) and Superman (Dean Cain).

Kamala’s got Fonzie (Henry Winkler) but Trump has Chachi (Scott Baio). She’s also has The Flying Nun (Sally Field) in her corner – which may be about the extent of her Catholic support.

Moving beyond the domain of fictional superheroes and TV characters, it’s not for me to say who Jesus would support but Jim Caviezel, the actor who played Him, is for Trump.

And, speaking of Hercules, I just spoke with Kevin Sorbo about his thoughts about the State of the Union on this Election Day.

JWK: I definitely want to talk about He Rules the World, the Christmas stage production you’re executive producing and narrating in Waco, Texas this December – but first, I have to ask you about your thoughts on this election. What do you see happening?

Kevin Sorbo: Well, they’re cheating again so it’s pretty much all up in the air, I think. They were so good at it four years ago and they’ve perfected it. We live in crazy times. That’s all I’ve got to say. I tell people all the time, I go “Look, it’s as simple as this. Were the four years under Trump better for you than the four years that we’ve just had with Biden and Harris – or is it the other way around?” If you had an amazing four years under Biden and Harris then, yeah, I understand you would vote the same way – but, if you had not, then I think you should vote for Trump, obviously. But people don’t do that. You’ve seen interviews – just like I’ve seen them. People can’t even name one thing Harris has done – one policy – and yet they’re still going to vote for her because of Trump Derangement Syndrome. The world is in trouble. That’s all I’ve got to say. I have no idea what’s going to happen. You know where I want it to go.

JWK: Do you think either side is going to accept defeat in this climate? There doesn’t seem to be a lot of confidence about the election process.

KS: No, there’s not – but, then again, why is it that in the last four years that the Republicans didn’t get rid of mail-in voting? You can’t have an honest election with mail-in voting. It’s as simple as that. To me, it’s a no-brainer. You make Election Day the day. You make it a holiday. People go in, show up, show bloody ID and vote. You turn it in and then it gets tabulated right then and there. Look at all the machines in the swing states mysteriously having problems. I mean, come on. We live in such a hypocritical society. It makes me angry and it makes me sad at the same time because it’s unbelievable that we have turned into a socialist country. We’re just as bad as Russia now with our voting system.

JWK: It seems to me that the fear of admitting support for Trump’s agenda – especially compared to what’s been going on over the past few years – has dissipated a bit, even in Hollywood. Would you agree?

KS: Oh, yeah. I mean Joe Rogan just came out to support him. I mean, yeah, the last four years the way they protected Biden, give me a break! We all knew the man had dementia and was getting worse by the month. You had Morning Joe saying he’s sharp as a tack and two weeks later he takes himself out of the election process. They just lie. That’s what they do. That’s what the media does, that’s what Washington D.C. does and that’s what Hollywood does.

JWK: Do you feel people are more willing now to stand up to the lies?

KS: More people are. Every movie set I’m on I always get a half a dozen people on either side of the camera saying “Thanks for being a voice for us.” People are waking up. They’re starting to get it. How bad do you want the country to be? or How good do you want it to be?

JWK: You were among the first in Hollywood to stand up to this stuff.

KS: I got blacklisted out of Hollywood about eleven or twelve years ago. Before Trump announced he was running, they were already blacklisting me.

JWK: You paid a price. Do you have any regrets?

KS: Sure. I mean I’ve got Sorbo Studios. We’re doing our own little thing but are they gonna let me come in and do another seven years on Hercules, five years on Andromeda or any bigger movies? No. They’re not gonna bring me in. They’re so filled with their anger and hate. That’s why we’re hoping He Rules the World coming out for Christmas is able to do something (positive).

JWK: I’m going to get that in a moment. I just have one more question about the election. If Trump wins big enough – say he captures the Congress and the popular vote – do you think that provides an opportunity for people of traditional values in Hollywood to reassert themselves and maybe even gain control over some of these major media companies?

KS: I think it will help. I don’t know how much of a dent it’s going to put in anything but I think it definitely will help. I think there’s a lot of people that you mentioned earlier (and) a lot of people behind closed doors that are saying “Guys, we can’t keep supporting this.” But you’re gonna have all the big A-Listers all the time because, you know, their capitalist life system doesn’t change. They can pretend they’re all for socialism and communism but, let’s face it, they made their money in a capitalist system and they live a capitalist system life. Once again, they’re just a bunch of hypocrites. (If Trump wins) I think you’re gonna get a lot of second tier, third tier and fourth tier actors, producers, directors and whatever that are finally gonna say “Guys, the best guy won because the four years we had under Trump were pretty darn good.”

The troubles we have in the world right now are caused by people like Harris. I mean what were her qualifications?

JWK: Tell me about He Rules the World. How did you become involved and why do you think its message is so important now?

KS: I think they came to me because of the number of faith-based movies I’ve been doing over the last over the last 14 or 15 years. I’ve had success with them because I think people are looking for love. People are looking for hope. People are looking for redemption.This is a type of wonderful musical that just sort of will supply that. It’s a very unique way to look at the lives of Mary and Joseph…The lyrical inspirations came from Styx, Stevie Wonder and Pink Floyd. I think people will find this thing pretty amazing…Go to HeRulestheWorld.com for all kind of information. It’s from December 11th to the 14th. It’s gonna be at the Waco Hippodrome in Waco, Texas.I hope we fill the place up…I think they’ll have a wonderful time sort of seeing the whole thing through the world of rock and roll. It’s gonna be a very Broadway kind of experience for people and tell the story of the Nativity. It’s a whole new different way to let people see the Birth of Jesus.

JWK: I guess if it’s successful we’ll see it in more venues going forward.

KS: No question. The plan is to get this out there everywhere. Look at the movies we watch – from Elf to Miracle on 34th Street, all those things. Those have been around for a long, long time. People are still watching them. This is something we hope, through streaming and everything else, eventually becomes a family sort of (event) every Christmas…I got honored to be the narrator for this as well. I hope people jump on board, take a look at it, really enjoy it and spread the word.

JWK: Do you have anything else coming up that you might want to mention?

KS: I’ve got three movies in post-production. I’m in the Reagan movie. I’ve have another movie called Firing Squad. Both were in theaters earlier. They’re streaming right now. I’ve got three documentaries that will be out next year. One I’m very excited about will come out over Easter. It deals with the Last Supper. It’s called Eating with the Enemy. It’s through Ingenuity Films – the same people I did Before the Wrath with. That came out a couple of years ago (and) was the #1 documentary on Amazon for five months. Before the Wrath deals with the Second Coming.

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.