Celebrity commentaries on politics are nothing new, but it is always a surprise when someone in the spotlight steps away from the approved progressive party line to comment what they really think. This week, Cher stepped out of line with the Democratic Party when she spoke up about the issue of felons voting — in a very straightforward way.
In addition to posting comments that were against the typical progressive-think on felons and the right to vote, Cher also questioned Bernie Sanders. Attacks came swiftly after her remarks, with the onslaught arriving from the usual quarters on Twitter.
Cher targeted the Democratic senator and presidential candidate over his plan to allow felons to vote should he win the White House in 2020.
“Does Bernie Sanders Really Believe Ppl In Prison Who Are Murderers⁉️ Rapists⁉️ Child Molesters⁉️ BOSTON BOMBERS.…STILL DESERVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE⁉️” the pop star said in a now-deleted comment.
Twitter progressives were swift to criticize, attacking both the singer and her statement.
“Why are you playing into this? Who cares about a few terrorists?” one user wrote. He continued “We want to enfranchise those that have wrongfully had their right to vote taken away. There are millions of them. There aren’t many terrorists. Why would a rich, white lady care about disenfranchised POC, right?”
Cher’s reply and her initial posts have now been deleted, but screenshots preserve her response:
“JESUS, TERRORIST KILLED INNOCENT PPL. IM SICK OF BEING NAILED 2 CROSS BECAUSE U PPL THINK IM A RACIST !! IM NOT GOING TO DEFEND MYSELF!! I CARE FOR ALL PPL, TRY TO HELP ALL PPL!! Excuse The Fk Out Of Me If I don’t want ,Murders, Rapists, &; CHILD MOLESTERS of every color to vote.”
Others were quick to pile on, calling the pop star a racist and claiming she did not care about those felons who lost their rights due to criminal activity. According to some posters, many felons are in prison and losing their rights because they are disenfranchised or have been treated poorly, not because of their crimes.
“A disproportionate number of black and brown people end up in prison for petty or invented stuff, put there by racist judges and racist cops,” one commenter wrote. “Our system isn’t perfect; let’s allow them to vote AND work on disassembling racism in our legal system.”
Cher’s reply pointed out that users simply picked parts of tweets to respond to and again stated that rapists, child molesters and terrorists that have been convicted should lose the right to vote.
Bernie Sanders’ stance on the issue remains the same, he wants felons to retain or regain voting rights:
“[I] think the right to vote is inherent to our democracy,” the Vermont senator said. “Yes, even for terrible people because once you start chipping away — you say, ‘That guy committed a terrible crime, we’re not going to let him vote,’ or ‘that person did that,’ you’re running down a slippery slope.”
