Yellowstone Star Fights Back Against the Show’s Politicization

Summary:

• As a Western, Yellowstone is often labeled a “conservative fantasy” solely because of its genre.
• Luke Grimes, the Kayce Dutton star, is tired of people making Yellowstone about politics and not art.
• According to the actor, a cowboy hat and a horse on the screen doesn’t “immediately equal some political belief.”

Today, many people are making everything about politics: from the most mundane activities to art, there’s nothing that won’t get attributed to the left or the right or whatever else. Artists themselves don’t like that, especially when they’re giving their all to their job only to meet online backlash because of some bizarre reason.

Yellowstone’s Luke Grimes has long been frustrated with how his favorite show is being politicized, and recently, the actor spoke up against it and addressed the issue.

Luke Grimes Slams Yellowstone Politicization

The entire genre of Western has long been labeled as a “conservative fantasy” by many, and it can indeed be one: there, you have guns, horses, and fighting for your land. All is good, but the situation gets out of hand when actors don’t mean any political statements by starring in a Western TV show but get treated as if they do.

“I think a lot of people see a cowboy hat and a horse and they think, ‘Oh, that’s not for me, those people believe differently.’ <...> It’s so funny to me because… I just don’t understand why that has to immediately equal some political belief. And I don’t think it does,” Luke Grimes, Yellowstone’s Kayce star, shared with Independent.

Grimes Pointed Out the Flaws in This Logic

What the Kayce star means is that sometimes, things are just what they are. TV shows and movies tell captivating stories instead of following an agenda; directors and actors do their best because they love their jobs and characters and not because they’re trying to send a message. And of course, sometimes, genres are just genres — settings for stories, and not political banners.

“It’s almost like they take these flawed characters in the show and chalk it up to some sort of weird belief that they’ve put on them. Meanwhile, you can have a terrible person like [Succession ’s] Logan Roy, who lives in an apartment in Manhattan, and that’s fine. That guy’s a total piece of sh*t! But that’s OK,” Grimes further explained.

It seems like the politicization of Yellowstone is really getting on the actors’ nerves, so how about this: why don’t we all just enjoy a TV show if we like it and avoid it if we don’t? Even if someone doesn’t like Westerns, it doesn’t make them a wrong genre.

Source: Independent