PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2002-03-13 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Did These Celebrities Say They Would Leave the US If George W. Bush Won the 2000 Presidential Election? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • Promises of an entertainment world exodus from the United States in the face of a Republican victory in the November 2000 presidential election began in August 2000, when USA TODAY reported the opinions of Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder about the upcoming political contest: Then, in mid-September, actor Alec Baldwin said something (exactly what he said, to whom, and when, remains elusive) that his wife, actress Kim Basinger, interpreted as a promise to leave the country should George W. Bush win the presidency: Many Americans, including his Baldwin's wife, Basinger, interpreted this as a promise to leave. Alec is the biggest moralist I know, Basinger told the German magazine Focus. I can well imagine that Alec makes good on his threat. And then I'd probably have to go too. Mitchell Fink, gossip columnist for the New York Daily News, quickly ran a column in which Baldwin not only denied that he had said any such thing, but also maintained his wife had never spoken to Focus magazine: Also in September, American film director Robert Altman made no bones about his intentions to become an expatriate should Bush be the victor in the 2000 presidential election: The Washington Post also put Pierre Salinger, White House press secretary to presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and former ABC news correspondent, on the list of voters who vow[ed] to get out of Dodge if George W. Bush were to be elected: I don't want any more Bush presidents, the 75-year-old Salinger writes in the new Georgetowner newspaper. If Bush wins, I'm going to leave the country and spend the rest of my life in France. Similar promises were also attributed to several other celebrities whom most people would consider to be far over to the liberal end of the political spectrum, but we could find no record of their having made such statements: What happened to those celebrities who had said they'd flee the country? The London Times' Jack Malvern attempted to track them down a few days after Bush's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021. Baldwin was sticking to his previous denial: During a March 2001 visit to Florida, Baldwin engaged in a battle of press quotes with Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, during which he continued to qualify whatever it was he'd said back in 2000: And Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder was disappointed with the election results, but apparently not disappointed enough to make good on his boast: Pierre Salinger, at least, reportedly stuck to his guns: (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url