Frasier endorses Mitt Romney. Huzzah!!!

By Richard K. Barry I fully understand that actors are not the characters they play. I also take no strong position about celebrity endorsements. They can say whatever they want [...]

By Richard K. Barry

I fully understand that actors are not the characters they play. I also take no strong position about celebrity endorsements. They can say whatever they want on any side of the aisle — free speech and all that. I’m always amazed at people who get worked up over big names who say stuff. They’re allowed like everyone else, and if we don’t want to pay attention, I don’t think we have to. I’m pretty sure I’m right about that.

I will admit that a slight smile came to my face when I read that actor Kelsey Grammer, a.k.a. Dr. Frasier Crane, endorsed Mitt Romney in a recent interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, saying that he’d “make a terrific president.”

I was just thinking how much fun it would be for Mr. Grammer to show up in character as Frasier, the goofy artistocrat, at one of Romney’s rallies. Maybe that’s just my idea of fun.

On a more serious note, Grammer commented on The Tonight Show recently that he thought it possible his GOP ties might cost him an Emmy nod for Boss this year, adding, “I mean, I am a declared, out-of-the-closet Republican in Hollywood.”

I don’t mean to be naive, but it would be a shame if that sort of thing actually happened. Though it would certainly be a dramatically gentler form of blacklisting than progressives endured in the ’50s, it would still be wrong, obviously.

I’ve always enjoyed Grammer’s work.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann’s Ghost.)