Mick Jagger knows not to put politics ahead of entertainment…
Mick Jagger will get it.
In a new sit-down with the New York Times, the 82-year-old gave a uncommon peek into the inside workings of being the Rolling Stones’ frontman.
He is surprisingly self-aware about his great ego, which he’s realized to change off when not on stage.
Jagger doesn’t let it trick him into believing that followers who pay good scratch to attend his live shows need to hear his political musings — in contrast to Bruce Springsteen who, on his unofficial No Kings tour, has been proudly fusing his biggest hits with Trump resistance storylines borrowed from the channel previously often called MSNBC.
In an interview with the New York Times’ David Marchese (proper), Mick Jagger said he doesn’t “lecture” his viewers. New York Times
As the Times’ David Marchese charitably put it to Jagger: “Bruce Springsteen clearly sees his job as engaging in a meaningful back and forth” — which is, in itself, a humorous framing.
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There’s no backwards and forwards with Springsteen, who delivers fiery political sermons from his partisan pulpit. Fans have to splash out all that cash to the assortment plate figuring out what they’ll be served in between “Hungry Heart” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.”
Referencing the Jersey boy’s method, Marchese requested Jagger, “What does your relationship to the audience mean to you? What do they represent, all those people out there?”
Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger is understood for his energetic performances on the stage. But he doesn’t plan on including politics to his live repertoire. Getty Images
The singer gave a considerate reply, acknowledging that when he performs music festivals like Glastonbury or the New Orleans Jazz Fest, the crowd isn’t essentially there to see the Stones. Ultimately, he needs to put followers in a state that permits their worries to soften away.
“My job in the live music world is for those people that come to have the best time,” Jagger said, evaluating it to a sporting event. “And you don’t want to lecture them.”
In a different period, such a sentiment would barely elevate an eyebrow. It definitely wouldn’t warrant a headline: “Rock legend wants to entertain the crowd, more news at 6.”
However, in 2026, Jagger’s declaration appears like a rejection of our current, poisonous state of tradition with many of our entertainers, from music to films, believing they’ve an ethical mandate to marinate their work in resistance slop.
In a standard world, Mick Jagger’s reply to the Times about protecting his live exhibits lecture free shouldn’t elevate an eyebrow. @TheChiefNerd/X
His take is refreshing. Especially coming off a wild Hollywood awards season the place the crimson carpets have been a parade of anti-ICE and anti-Israel flare — and yet even that didn’t fulfill legendary Spanish director Pedro Almódovar.
“There were not many protests against the war [in Gaza] or against Trump” the 76-year previous told the LA Times after the Oscars again in May.
Somehow the lectures from Hannah Einbinder, Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem all award season have been merely not sufficient. Maybe just one more starlet declaring “f–k ICE” would make us imagine what they need us to imagine.
Bruce Springsteen has always been a loud and proud supporter of Democrats, particularly Obama. But he has added political to the set listing for his latest tour. Getty Images
These people are fully out of contact with the real world — a lot so, they don’t understand that the more we’ve got to hear them drone on, the more we have a tendency to merely tune out. We cease shopping for tickets to their films and cease watching their exhibits.
There are seemingly fewer and fewer entertainers who perceive that. (Kevin Hart, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Duhamel and Kevin James are uncommon exceptions.)
But anytime a new star tries to say possibly all this lecturing isn’t an amazing thought, out come Hollywood’s pitchforks.
Last week, Dwayne Johnson said he was planning to keep mum on politics to give attention to his display work. “Stand by Me” actor and Kamala Harris fan Wil Wheaton called him a “coward” for his determination.
After the 2026 Oscars, Spanish director Pedro Almódovar complained that the awards ceremony wasn’t political sufficient. BACKGRID
Wheaton spun yarn on Lardass in that coming-of-age film, however neither he nor The Rock have any bearing on my opinions on world affairs.
We live in a world the place politics is always on faucet: If you need it, you could find it wherever, anytime. It dominates every part we do.
This is why we’d like escapism.
When entertainment turns into polluted by political discourse, it not only alienates followers. It inherently feeds division.
People cease coming together to get pleasure from the factor they’ve in frequent: love of the artwork.
There’s no more communion. There’s only weird political tribes.
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