Clicks Over Conviction: Exposing Fake Activism

“Award shows are selling activism like merch—loud on stage, silent when it counts.” Today's episode of The Rant Network calls out the performative outrage machine, from red‑carpet speeches to social feeds that change faster than headlines—pins for Ukraine, slogans about policing and ICE, and applause chasing that never becomes real work. If the cause matters, stop rewarding grandstanding and start demanding receipts: consistent principles, tangible action, and accountability over optics. Tired of celebrity lectures? Same—let’s trade viral virtue for verified impact.

#Grammys #AwardShows #PerformativeActivism #VirtueSignaling

#podcast #therantnetwork #podcasting #opinion #podcaster #podcastshow #live #business #discussion #economics #politics #discussion #sports #racism #socialmedia #education #conservative #education #antiwoke #GoWokeGoBroke #DonaldTrump #PoliticalAnalysis

Transcript

Cold Morning And Awards Rant

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Whoop-to-doop, guys. Whoop-to-doop. You know, it is another fucking day. Look at that. It's cold in Florida still.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Wow, why?

Calling Out Billie Eilish

Performative Activism Defined

SPEAKER_01 0:13

You know, yeah, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You know, I did not watch these awards. I stopped watching award ceremony, I don't know, maybe a decade ago. When they started maybe even maybe even 15, 20 years ago, when when when artists became polyscientists and politically lead. You know, let's talk about the most recent moron who's casted her presence on a stage with her infinite knowledge. Miss Billy Eilish. She's an American singer-songwriter. She's 25 years old, and she's got a lot of experience. And for 10 years, she's been an alternative pop sounder on the airways. You would think at this point you would want to protect your career more than anything else because she's amassed a fortune, lives in her cushy mansion in California. I mean cushy. I mean, let me tell you something. It's got every bell and whistle under the sun. Well, let's talk about her in education terms. Now, I'm not against homeschooled people, but she has zero, zero traditional education, zero post-secondary education, and her only claim to fame is that she sang, she sang in the Los Angeles Child's Choir. Very successful artist. Now, I don't know about you, but when I want to go to the doctor's office, I want to make sure they got an MD, right? In medical school, not homeschool, dissecting frogs and grasshoppers and cows. You know. But Miss Billy Eilish, who decided to make a statement so absurd, has yet to answer the phone to the people she inferred who own the land where her house is. Now, what do I mean? The Indian tribe that the land was removed from, where her mansion sits, actually reached out to Miss Eilas and says, Hey, would you like it to give us back your land? No comment. They reached out again and said, Last time I checked, I don't know who you are. You didn't take our land. Our land was taken hundreds of years ago. No return call. The people on stage are looking for clicks. David, you're 100% right. In the green room, you said they're looking for attention. But let's talk about attention. I would like anyone that doesn't have a home to live in to go visit Miss Billy Eilish. She's on stolen land. Miss Billy Eilish, open your door. Let them in. You've got a huge compound. Let's set up tents in your compound. How many bedrooms do you got, Miss Eilish? I think you should share your house with all these people that are being. Why don't you provide cover for all these people? I don't hear you, Miss Eilish. It's deafening the silence from your PR team, from your marketing team, from how about any of your fans trying to defend you with the most moronic statement said on stage to date for 2026. I think, Miss Eilas, you're going in the record books for the dumbest comments of 2026. And you know what? I don't think someone could surpass your idiosky. I really don't. But Dave, this wasn't the point of the rant, and this was only the introduction. So my name's Stuart Brisgale. That's David Solomon. This is a podcast devoted on exposing and talking about the truths, the reality. Knocking on your door going, Hello, stupid McFly, are you ignorant? Like, wake up. You cannot have something for nothing. And your success came on the backs of how many others, Miss Billy Eilish. Now, David, we're not going to focus on Miss Eilish anymore. I'm going to let you rant about all the other stupid people that have emerged from that part of the country. David.

Ratings Slide And Political Grandstanding

SPEAKER_00 4:59

All right, let's let's let's get something started here, folks. Stewart is is really accurately and appropriately went after Ms. Eilish. But here's the whole thing, folks. Let's let's get real here. This is called fake activism. It's totally fake. All right. And I'll tell you why it's fake. Four years ago, you had the Ukrainian war that started. And at the end of the day, what ended up happening with the Ukrainian war people? Simple. Everybody put their little pin. We stand with Ukraine. They made their statements, they changed their Instagram and Facebook pages to reflect on that. But what did they do? Nothing. Nothing was done, people. That's not activism. Activism is when you are standing there fighting for what's right, not for clicks. That is exactly what unfortunately Miss Eilish is doing. She had a platform. She had a platform. And her platform was very simple. Okay, very simple. The Grammys. Where she knew a decree, even though it's a diminishing group of people are watching this, by the way, Stuart. And it's really dropping 15%, but or 9%, I can't remember the number exactly, but they're dropping because people are tired of hearing political grandstanding from fake people. That's what Billy Eilish was doing.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Oh, she did. Wasn't doing she did. And by the way, David, I'm gonna jump in. There are a few sort of common fake examples of fake performative activism. I want someone to say them out here a lot. Social media only support, brand virtual signaling, one day outrage, selective advocacy, influencer activism for engagements. That means clicks, symbolic gestures with zero substance, or outsourcing responsibility. Let's add that to this rant because it's not just Billy Eilish, David.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

It's not no, but Stuart, but that's my that's my point.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

She's just the biggest clown of the year, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Well, no, she's not the biggest clown because unfortunately there are way, way, way, way, way, way too many.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Yeah, but Greta was 2025. We haven't seen Greta for 2026.

Pins, Protests, And Police Irony

SPEAKER_00 7:24

We leave Greta alone. Let's leave Greta alone because I know that you you have this this love affair for Greta. Greta, it's it's not Greta, okay, ladies and gentlemen. It's very, very, very simple. It's a very, very, very, very simple thing. Here's the problem with what we're dealing with here. It's the grandstanding, it's not a real thing. They're not standing up there because they really believe in their maybe they have some conviction. But let me tell you something about these fake artists. They same people who stood about Ukraine, then went and talked about Black Lives Matter, defunding the police. And you know what was ironic, Stuart? What did they do when they had break-ins? What did they do when they had you know fans chase them down? No, no, it wasn't cry, my friend. No, no, you see, it wasn't crying. They called the police. Yes, they did. Uh listen, they did. Uh, they did, you know, hire more security. But they called the police and the police, when you defund the police, what do you do? How many times have these artists been, you know, assaulted in public, chased, threatened, harassed? You name it. It's not gonna be private security that's gonna stop them, it's the police. So on this side, they cried, defund the police, George Floyd, and on this side, I need the police. That was the irony with Billie Eilish because someone had a there was a break-in in her home, and she called the police.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Yep. I got another good one for you. I got another good one for you. We can pivot. Leonard DiCaprio, the long time standing environmentalist.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Remember him, you know, with his airplane, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Oh, airplane mega gig, mega yachts that are the most literally unenvironmentally friendly devices, but you can talk about Taylor Swift, you can talk about Kenny Jenner, and go on and on.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

And this is the point I'm trying to get at.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

It's fake grandstanding, and I'm tired of the entertainment industry telling me that they know better, that they understand they're the only representatives left of the Democratic Party. No, and you know what the funny part is? Thus far, zero of them have any education or live in the real world.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

I won't say that they don't have education. I'm not gonna go down that road. What I am gonna say is this, Stuart. When you stand up there knowing damn well that you got millions of people watching you, and at the same time, a room full of people who have been just the same mindset as you, it feels wonderful. That applause feels oh so good, and that's what you bloody live for the applause. A year ago, you same people wore the pins with the red hands, not knowing that you were supporting terrorism, anti-gay stance. You stood for hate, but it got you clicks and applause, and that's for the most of you are chasing me.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Well, they're narcissists.

Private Jets And Green Posturing

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Now, I'm not saying every single one of these artists don't really believe in what they're saying. There are artists who do believe in this, from Roger Waters to Annie Lennox to a few of these other ones who really do have are off their rocker and are now getting fired from their labels and getting fired from other places. But now the hot topic is ice, Stuart. The hot topic is fuck ice to hell with ice because the left has decided that the ice is no is a bunch of Nazis and Gestapos, etc. You want to you want to pivot a guy, but hold on, hold on, hold it. But the funny thing is that none of them seem to remember that Obama let the same thing happen and no one is allowed to no one's they forget it's 20,000 cages for kids, you know, like 1800 cars for kids.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

He had uh cages for kids, you know, one, eight hundred Obama cages for kids.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Stuart, Stuart. The thing that is amazing about these grandstanding entertainers is that really, where are you to really do anything? So let's go back to Ukraine four years ago. What'd you do? You wore a pin on stage and did nothing. Some performers on stage when they're performing in front of a uh in front of an audience, you know, in their concerts and whatever, because this was the Grammys, they said the same thing Israel, fuck Russia, fuck this. It's beautiful because you get thousands of people cheering for you, it feels good, but you did nothing. Nope. You did nothing.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

I like to go back to the 19 lady.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Stuart, I lost your microphone there, buddy. I don't know you. We lost your sound there, bud. I don't know what happened there, Stuart. There we go. Are you back? I think so. There you go. Now you're back. Go ahead. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

So I you know, I love the night late 1960s and 1970s, where you know, members or affiliate people in support of the Black Panther stood on the pot on the podium, took their medals, twisted their hand and the fist, and we took their medals away. I think I think that that is, you know what?

Applause Addiction And Symbolic Gestures

SPEAKER_00 12:43

I hate you know, you brought that up the other day, and you know it was a it was a you're you're you know, at least those guys stood up and and and were angry because of civil rights. And I'm not gonna say that they did something. No, no, no, because it's equivalent to Kaepernickle taking a knee with a national anthem on now. No, no, you know what? No, no, you know, I don't agree with you. I think I know I know that you like, I know that you like to bring up Colin Kaepernick and you love you you harp on the same people over and over again. And Colin Kaepernick did whatever he did for his own personal gain. He claimed it was for Black Lives Matter. We know what he was trying to do, and that's not the same thing here at all, because the fallout for what these two guys had in 1968 was completely different than collard Kaepernick. But let's get we with the point here about, and I was focusing on the entertainment industry, right? And that the entertainment industry sits there and decides that you are that they are gods, they are so deified, they're so praised that they firmly believe that whatever they do and they say will be followed by their dumbass followers. You know, I mean, like when you hear about Swifties, you know, you think it's like a cult and a religion, and that's what these artists want. They want this following. And how do you get a following? You gotta say something, you gotta do something. And if you say fuck ice, because that's popular in social media and on CNN and MSNBC and all the rest of those channels, I'll get clicks.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

I want to remind you, I want to remind you. Do you remember the stadium where Trump was speaking in New York? And everyone went to him and said, Why are you letting Trump speak in Madison Square Garden? Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. But again, let's talk about this entertainment world giving these crazy idiots anything more than what they deserve. They deserve on a microphone to perform in the art in which they are seasoned and very, very well liked. And I have no problem with Billie Eilish or music at all. I have a problem with Billie Eilish, the politician. No, she's not a politician.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Oh, fake activist. Let's get real. She's not a politician. Activism is activism. They think that they're they're activists, they don't think they're politicians, they don't like politicians, but they think they're affecting change. That's what they believe wholeheartedly. That if they stand on a stage and that you and I want to watch, you know, what they wear, what they sing. I don't want to hear what they stand for. I don't want to hear it from sports athletes, I don't want to hear it from the entertainment world. If I'm watching you at the Grammys, I don't want to hear you grandstand. It's none of like shut your fucking mouth, please. You I'm you want to know why the Grammys and the Oscars and the Golden Globes are tanking in views and watches because people don't want to hear your political messaging. I don't care if you're left or right. Now, here's the funny part, Stuart. Could you imagine an entertainer getting on the stage and saying, fuck all of you, go ice, get rid of those people? What would happen to that person? What would happen to that entertainer?

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Well, they're in a vacuum. Well, actually, actually, they some have done it and they've been blacklisted as in black balls.

ICE, Selective Memory, And Outrage Cycles

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Imagine if you will, imagine if you will. That would have been done on the weekend. What would have happened? And this is the point. This is not a you know what you want to talk about real activism? You're not an activist standing on a stage, spewing out a message that you are against dice, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But what are you really doing? And Billie Eilish's statement, by the way, it was very interesting because the the Native Americans who made the comment said, Thank you for bringing up our cause. Now, can you call us about, you know, call us about our the the mansion that you built on our land that you didn't even ask for? It's kind of funny to sit there and and and this irony. Look, to sit here and to say that United States and Canada's on stolen land and do it a land acknowledgement. We've done it here in Canada, and you want to know what there are many people who are going, and so what? You know, what does that do? And it's funny because Billy Elesh did exactly what is the what is now become this accepted way. We want to acknowledge that we are on stolen land and we appreciate being on this stolen land, and that's great, but what are you doing about it, Billy? Are you moving out of the United States? Uh, you know, come on.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Jose Anbar wants someone to come snuggle up with her in Ireland.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Yeah, well, let her stay in Ireland with those hateful people. But let's wrap this up. I'm gonna wrap this up with the this last statement, okay? Put your money where your mouth is, people. Do what do the activism getting clicks, getting views, going viral? Good for you. Doesn't help the cause, doesn't help the cause. You didn't elevate the cause, you didn't do anything except for make yourself be so popular on all these media channels. Now, Bad Bunny this Sunday with the Super Bowl steward. It's another another one. He is he's pissed, he's angry, he's created a problem with the NFL, and the NFL has decided no. So the NFL, you know, the so now there's gonna be a a kid rock-led halftime show for people who don't want to watch Bad Bunny. Watch how many views drop on Sunday, this Super Bowl, because people don't want to hear this garbage.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

You know what, David? I think that there is a good possibility that the amount of people leave the stands in out to get a beer and to have a piss to have to go take a piss and have a beer and have a snack and let bad bunny be in the middle of the damn stage, this middle of the field with no one watching.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

Well, one thing is for Stuart. One thing is for Stuart when Bud when it's halftime stuff, I'm out of there.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Hello, David. It's our time once again. It's over.