US presidential election: A-listers fail to win votes for Kamala Harris

LOS ANGELES - A raft of celebrities - from American singers Taylor Swift and Beyonce to actors George Clooney and Harrison Ford - proved unable to prevent Ms Kamala Harris' crushing defeat in the United States presidential election, underlining the limited impact of sweeping star endorsements on voters.

Instead, it was Donald Trump and the Republicans who received scant support from the entertainment industry at large, but tapped a targeted subset of well-known, hypermasculine influencers who won comfortably.

So, did the Democrats' long-standing Hollywood and music industry connections, including last-minute rally appearances from pop stars Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez, make any difference at all in the end?

"Not in this election, clearly," said New York University arts professor Laurence Maslon.

"At the end of the day, people probably realise that Beyonce and George Clooney don't have to worry about the cost of gas or the cost of eggs so maybe they're sort of irrelevant," he said.

Celebrity endorsements have long been part of the fabric of US elections, harking back to the days when late singer-actor Frank Sinatra wrangled the Rat Pack group of celebrities to support then Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy in 1960.

Even in 2024, Hollywood-led fund-raisers helped raise tens of millions of dollars for Ms Harris' record-breaking campaign war chest.

But their impact in actually influencing votes has always been a "mixed bag", said Arizona State University Associate Professor Margaretha Bentley, who teaches a public policy course on Swift.