Look what you made him do! Billy Eichner took the stage to present Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist at the 2018 American Music Awards on Tuesday, October 9, and encouraged the audience to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
“Young people of America, the biggest election of our lifetime is happening. That’s right. On November 6th, tonight is the final night to register in 20 states in this country. Please grab your friends. Tell them to vote,” the 40-year-old began. “Now is the time. If you believe in equality for women. That’s right. For people of color. For the LGBTQ community. If you believe that climate change is real. And that we need to do something about it. Don’t let anyone tell you your vote won’t count. It counts. It does. Thank you.”
The comedian was joined by actress Kathryn Hahn on stage. Eichner also referenced Taylor Swift’s recent political post during his speech: “You can go to http://vote.gov like Taylor Swift told you to.”
The 28-year-old pop star, who opened up Tuesday’s show with a performance of “I Did Something Bad,” broke her political silence to endorse two Democratic candidates in Tennessee on Sunday, October 7.
“In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now,” she captioned a Polaroid of herself on Instagram. “I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.”
After Swift made headlines for her post, which reportedly spiked voter registration in Tennessee, a source told Us Weekly exclusively that the “Delicate” songstress “decided to share her political opinion because she realizes that she’s at the peak of her career and doesn’t care about haters at this point.”
The source added: “She thought, ‘What’s the point of having this fame if I’m not going to use it for good?’”
