Bad Bunny, Pete Seeger and How Entertainers Have Fought Against Conservative Backlash

Bad Bunny is the latest artist with a conservative violent reaction in the United States. At the end of last week, Superbowl 2026 titles mocked Maga while hosting “Saturday Night Live”.

Meanwhile, last month, ABC temporarily commented a dialogue program late at night, Jimmy Kimmel after political pressure. The head of the Federal Communications Committee, Brendan Car, sent a threatening message in response to a note that Kimmel had made it about US President Donald Trump’s response to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Supporters criticized the network, and some participated in Disney County, the parent company of ABC. High -energy colleagues stood up to other offers, including Stephen Kolbert, whose show this year has been displayed in similar circumstances, in front of the cameras to defend Kimmel. When Kimmel returned to the ether waves the following week, he did not retreat. After apologizing for the first time for any words that might have offended, he stood firm for the importance of protecting popular culture from governmental intimidation. “This offer is not important,” Kimmel told his fans on September 23. What is important is to live in a country that allows us to show like this. “

Unfortunately, the disgraceful artists have been the main targets of US government officials who had not liked their views before. During the second red fear of the fifties of the last century, actors, producers, writers and singers were distinguished by the anti -conservative communism politicians who are eager to provide an example on them through high -level investigations. By attacking people with large audiences, the right can send a chilling message: anyone on the left, regardless of fame or luck, risked the destruction of their lives through the accusations of communist relations. Clay Ryan also argues in his book Red frighteningThe battle was a cultural war as it was related to politics-audited battle, a battle around the United States.

Beit Sager was among the artists who refused to fold the political pressure. Although their commercial career has often suffered, he and his allies have become heroes in counter -culture in the 1960s and symbols of permanent expression. Their battle is still echo today, as many in 2025 bear great risks to the challenge of the American administration that intends to wear the rights of the most promoted nation. Seeger and its story remain an inspiring chapter in the ongoing struggle to defend the first amendment.

by the time He was called in front of the non -American activities committee (HUAC) in August 1955, and Seger achieved great fame in the music world and on the left. He was born in New York City in 1919, and he devoted to Banjo himself for the scene of popular music emerging in the thirties and forties. He came to the music of Woody Gutry and Hudi, “Bett” LEDPER, by his father, Charles Sigger Junior, an ethnic doctor, and became one of the most respectable people’s personalities as this type gained a comment in the cafe and small parties. In the late 1940s, Seger found a commercial success with his band The Weavers, where he scored a number 1 advertising panel in 1950 with the handover of the leading popular story “Goodnight, Irene”. They achieved their copy of Guthrie “Long, it was good to know Yuh” No. 4 in 1951, and the band sold about 4 million records during this time. “If I had a hammer,” the work was the work: “It is the hammer of justice. It is the freedom bell.” I like the masses seeing seeger directly. “He was an emotional person,” his colleague in the weavement group Rooney Gilbert remembers after his death in 2014, “and this is what people saw. People absorbed his passion and the ideals of the ideals.”

Like many artists in the afternoon, Seeger was very active in the left causes. He joined the Communist Party of America in 1942, during the years of the Popular Front, when a large -scale network of progressive groups defended the Labor and Civil Rights Party, small farmers and other marginalized groups. Later in the decade, he left Seeger when he learned of the terrible nature of Joseph Stalin. As part of the Almanac reference for singers, he brought the fascist and supportive songs to large national radio fans during World War II. He also made a campaign to nominate Henry Wallace’s gradual party in 1948. Seeger did not hide his political affiliation. In fact, he was proud of music to stand by the joint Americans. Seeger, who served during the Second World War in the US Army Unit for Performance Artists, formed the songs of people after the war, an organization that collected and distributed political songs.

By the early fifties of the last century, Seeger has become a target of the right -wing forces. In June 1950, the broad “red channels” were accused of seeger of communism, although he left the party by that time. The FBI leaked files for reporters about his activity. Weights were listed in the black list from radio stations and concerts where the Malcon concluded that their popularity was less valuable than the possible cost to host them. Unable to win a decent life and under unimaginable political pressure, the band separated.

On August 18, 1955, Huac Seeger summoned his testimony. By that time, the reputable committee was due to the opposing investigations of communism. In 1947, Hollywood Tin, a group of writers and directors accused of communist relations, was imprisoned, and included in the black list. Upon traveling to the boycott to generate headlines, HUAC held the session that included the Seeger at the US Federal Court in Foley Square in New York. The committee went to work, investigating its well -known left -wing activities and the words of his music.

Seeger, who was wearing a torn jacket and a yellow tie, rejected the knee bend. Unlike Hollywood Tin, no modification was required. Instead, he said that the committee has no right to ask the questions that occurred to it. “I feel that these questions are inappropriate, sir, and I feel that they are immoral to ask any kind of American questions,” said Seeger Huac Francis Walter, comparing the situation with Jesus Christ, who was interrogated by Pontius Pilate. Seeger defended his right and the right of every American, to support any global vision and found it convincing.

Names will not mention. When the committee pressed him about whether he had played the song, “It was not this time?” For a controversial group politically in New York, Seeger will not enjoy this question but he was offered to run it in the hearing room. In his comments, Seeger refused to give up patriotism for his investigators. “I feel that I am in my entire life I did not do anything of any conspiracy nature, and I am very loud and very deep than the effects of calling this committee,” this is what he said in one way or another because my views may be different from you … that I am less than an American than anyone else.

In 1956, the House of Representatives voted to retain the cultivation of congress. In March 1957, the Federal Grand Persons Authority was accused of 10 charges, one for every question he did not answer. It took four years to be able to trial. With the support of the American Civil Liberties Union, which was established in 1920 to protect freedom of expression after the first red fear, Seeger faced condemnation. In March 1961, at the age of 42, he was convicted and sentenced to 10 prison periods for one year. Shortly before the issuance of judgments, he had played music for reporters at a press conference, after which he explained: “I sang to the Americans of all political persuasion, Obo Forest and Rockefelles … I am proud to bring good songs for people.

Although the Seeger commercial profession was not fully recovered, its initial position was deeply admired throughout the music community. His magazine rich! It was a publication of the popular movement. Teams such as Peter, Paul and Mary covered his songs, and he was a co -founder of the popular Nioport Festival. When ABC prevented him from appearing in the popular music program Hootenanny Because he refused to sign the right of loyalty, many performance artists, including Bob Dylan, evaluated the program in solidarity. In 1965, Seeger was asked about its inclusion in the black list after the HUAC session, saying about the committee: “This group of people is in fact … In my opinion, a group of American fascists. Their idea of ​​America is America in which everyone agrees with them.”

Registration for the smaller FolkWays records during teaching in schools as well as performance in the union halls and secondary schools and on the university campus, Seeger appeared as a very respectable figure in the civil rights movement. In September 1957, he played “we must overcome” in a popular school in Tennessee with Martin Luther King Junior. During the summer of freedom in 1964, he performed a performance to the black public and white student activists in the state of Mississippi.

Only in the late 1960s, when the nation became the most disappointed with the current situation, did the main media out of welcoming Seeger again? While they changed, he did not. In September 1967, CBS executive officials removed his performance from Bracez comedy watch After singing the “waist in the depth of the big muddy”, with his plan, “said The Big Fool to move forward”, who was criticizing US President Lindon Johnson and the war in Vietnam. Seeger wrote the song after seeing a picture of American soldiers wandering in a river in Delta Mekong. The contestants confirmed the CEO William Billy, who received direct complaints from Johnson about previous plays that mocked him that there would be no political content in music. Tom and Dick were angry at censorship and complained about what happened. When the SMOTHERS brothers welcomed him on February 25, 1968, network suits allowed them to broadcast “Weist Deep”. Watch about 13.5 million families. By that time, Seeger has become a vital musical sound in the increasing anti -war movement.

Over time, his courage became the things of legend. In 1994, Seeger received a national medal for the arts from US President Bill Clinton and the honor of Kennedy Center. When Barack Obama was opened as an American president in 2009, Seeger performed the classic Guthrie “This Land Is Your Land” alongside Bruce Springsteen. Seeger died on January 27, 2014, at the age of 94. In honor, Obama said: “Over the years, he used his voice – and a hammer – to strike strikes for the worker’s rights, civil rights, global peace, and to preserve the environment. We have always invited to sing. To remind us of where we come and appear where we need to go, we will always be grateful to follow. Anonymous.

Seeger remain a A testament to what popular artists can achieve in dangerous times. Through its huge platforms, every act provides a challenge against abuse, abuse, or repressive governmental actions, a strong symbolic blow to civil freedoms. Musicians and other artists who stand on their land and defend their principles, even at the expense of their career, give countless Americans the courage to do the same. The collective force is inspiring to say that it does not lie at the heart of all successful counter -stability against strong armed governments.

Seeger is still waving on the horizon. In the coming months, political threats will not disappear. Trump only stays his campaign against all political opponents. The strength of every artist will draw a line in the sand, regardless of the personal cost.