Two Hollywood Stars Dodge Political Landmines Set by Reporters

There was a moment at the Berlin International Film Festival this week that felt almost shocking. It was shocking not because celebrities said something political, but because two major Hollywood figures refused to.

In the current entertainment culture, Hollywood elites are treated like political science professors, and interviews are treated like symposiums or keynote addresses. However, when asked their political opinions while attending the European film festival, Michelle Yeoh and Neil Patrick Harris declined and subverted the questions repeatedly. They redirected the conversation to their craft and film. Their restraint to wax idiotically, rare as it has become, was both unusual and refreshing.

During a press conference, Michelle Yeoh, who was present at the festival to receive an honorary Golden Bear for her acting career, was pressured to comment on the political situation in the United States, ignoring the tremendous honor bestowed on her. She declined to discuss the divisive topic she felt ill-informed on explaining, “I don’t think I am in the position to really talk about the political situation in the U.S. … it is best not to talk about something I don’t know about.” She then masterfully pivoted back to the purpose of the festival, saying she wanted to “concentrate on what is important for us, which is cinema.” Yeoh further emphasized the communal power of the theatrical experience — a place where audiences “come together” to laugh, cry, and celebrate — arguing that this shared space remains vital even in an era of fractured attention. In other words, she did what artists should do: talk about art, their area of expertise.

Another journalist tried to catch Yeoh into commenting on the divisive topic of race, albeit it was disguised as a compliment. The reporter told the Malaysian actress that she is “living proof that minorities have success in Hollywood” and then asked if Yeoh had noticed any change in the diversity policies? Yeah acknowledged that it has been exciting for her to portray different cultures on screen, as she did in Crazy Rich Asians, but she then was subtly honest suggesting that everyone experiences their own forms of roadblocks. “Today, I sit here with a Golden Bear, not because of just one movie, but the perseverance, the resilience, the stubbornness to say: ‘I won’t just go away. I will stay until the right changes are made, not just for minorities, but for everyone,’” she clarified.

Neil Patrick Harris faced a similar barrage while promoting his film Sunny Dancer. Journalists asked whether cinema should be political and if film should fight “fascism.” Harris, refusing to take the bait, simply responded that in such a polarized world, art and film should remain apolitical. “I think we live in a strangely algorithmic and divided world right now, and so as artists, I’m always interested in doing things that are apolitical. Because we’re all, as humans, wanting to connect in some way,” he stated.

The next reporter seemed not to like the side-step that Harris achieved and asked him directly to condemn the US government. “Do you dare to criticize your government and do you think democracy in the U.S. is in danger?” the European journalist asked. This bold and asinine question was met with an appropriate response. All Harris could muster at first was an understated, “Wow.” Harris then went on to draw a boundary between personal belief and professional role. “While I have my own political opinions, I think as a performer, especially in this kind of movie, [I’m] trying to be as inclusive as possible,” he clarified.

The responses of these seasoned Hollywood veterans are truly admirable. Celebrities are entertainers, not activists. Most of them live in a very protective bubble of sycophants and luxury, and they have no idea what is happening in the real world. Their news comes from the propaganda pushed by the mainstream media. It has become so commonplace for the fame hungry imbeciles like Billie Eilish to say that “no one is illegal on stolen land” only to find out that her home sits on land once inhabited by the Tongva tribe. If she had taken the Yeoh and Harris approach to political discourse, her foot would not be lodged in her hypocritical mouth.

For decades, Hollywood maintained a clearer distinction between cultural influence and political expertise. Celebrities could hold strong personal views, but when it came time to discuss their projects, the focus was largely on storytelling, technique, and the shared language of film. That boundary has eroded in an age of social media activism, where the pressure to opine instantly and ignorantly is immense. The result has been a flood of commentary that is frequently uninformed, performative, or detached from the actual work artists produce. By contrast, Yeoh and Harris returned to the ideals of old Hollywood: have humility about what one does not know, and confidence about what one does. And knowing the difference will serve them well in their coming careers.