CULTURE

A Wet, Shirtless James Franco and the Weirdest Celeb Hillary Clinton Endorsements

James Franco, Louis C.K., Katy Perry and Madonna have some really interesting ways of letting the world know #ImWithHer.


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Screenshot via Women Vote Project’s YouTube.

The debate over whether celebrities should make their political preferences known at all is the tired stuff of talk radio (or, perhaps, overly cautious PR teams). This is America. Civic involvement is important, and people with fame can spur discussion and awareness through public involvement.

This year it seems like celebrities are lining up in record number to let the world know #ImWithHer, but some are going the extra mile by being, well, the most extra.

Not content to just post their #ImWithHer hashtag and go, they’re letting the world know their political predilection for Hillary Clinton in only the way they can.

Take, for example, James Franco. For some reason he’s decided to mash together Dos Equis’s “Most Interesting Man in the World” commercials with Old Spice’s ads for an endorsement video that starts by claiming that Hillary Clinton “didn’t just bring Iran to the table, she whittled the table,” and ends with Franco, for reasons unknown, wet and shirtless in a bath towel. Because, hey, why not?

Franco’s endorsement video was made in conjunction with the Emily’s List’s Women VOTE Project, but Louis C.K. made his endorsement of Clinton all on his own.

While on Conan last night, C.K. had the most particularly C.K.-ian reasoning for supporting Clinton. “We need just a tough, bitch mother who nobody likes, who just does the s–t,” he said.

Reaction has included everything from calling it “a hilarious, insightful case” for Clinton, to claiming that, “Endorsing a female candidate for president doesn’t count if you also call her a crazy bitch, to be funny.”

Then, of course, there’s the matter of Katy Perry‘s Halloween costume.

It was Hillary Clinton, in case you didn’t catch on. Yes, we know it also sort of looks like Angela Lansbury took the lead role in a biopic of German chancellor Angela Merkel, but it’s supposed to be Clinton. Perry has a history of slipping into politically-themed fashions during election time. She’s already been spotted in clothing costumed emblazoned with Hillary’s logo this year around, and back in 2012 wore a series of Barack Obama-endorsing mini-dresses, but even for her, this is quite a lot.

Love for election outfits aside, Perry had also beaten James Franco to the “getting naked on YouTube to promote politics” game. Back in September, she got together with Funny or Die to remind people that it didn’t matter what people wore to the polls, just as long as they showed up (and, well, wore something).

This video caused Madonna to post her own topless (but strategically cropped) photo on Instagram, declaring, “I’m voting naked with Katy Perry!! Vote for Hillary. She’s the best we got!”

Madge has since deleted the photo, but her comments at a New York City concert last month can’t be deleted from the record.

“If you vote for Hillary Clinton, I will give you a blowjob,” Madonna told the crowd. “OK? I’m really good. I’m not a douche, and I’m not a tool. I take my time, I have a lot of eye contact, and I do swallow.”

Oh, Madge.

In the interest of remaining fair and balanced, we also should note that we find just about every celebrity endorsement of Donald Trump weird as well. The list of celebrities that have endorsed Trump includes the likes of Hulk Hogan, Scott Baio and Chuck Norris.