With the upcoming U.S. presidential race narrowing down to two key candidates after democrat Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign, The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas has stated that while he’s vocal about his opinion, he doesn’t feel that it’s the “universal duty” of musicians to take political stances.
The U.S. is boiling down their nominations for the 2020 presidential election, seeing current President Donald Trump as the republican opposition for democrat Joe Biden. With many artists previously voicing their choice with campaign-suspended Bernie Sanders being their choice, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes has spoke up in a new interview with the New York Post about his political views.
Previously, Casablancas had voiced his choice for the upcoming election as being a strong Bernie Sanders supporter, where many other musicians have similarly thrown support. But, with Sanders suspending his campaign, he has shared that he’s now backing Joe Biden for the 2020 election.
“He was the only non-corporate candidate, a trustworthy guy, so [it was] kind of a no-brainer,” Casablancas stated about Sanders. However, he also noted that he “was expecting” Sanders to drop out of the race citing that he “wasn’t really that surprised”.
“I’m secretly holding out hope that [Joe Biden] choose Bernie [Sanders] as his running mate,” Casablancas continued. “I feel like that would be a good way to guarantee victory in my opinion. But he’ll probably choose a woman.”
The Strokes has previously performed at a rally for Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire in February, where they also debuted two new songs from their newest album The New Abnormal. From that appearance, it was quite clear that the band supported the candidate.
However, despite The Strokes’ performance being a public support of Sanders, Casablancas stated that he doesn’t believe it is the “universal duty” of artists to take a political stand.
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“I think politics is a different beast,” he detailed. “To me, art is an escape [from] the absurdity of life. People are seeking to run away from the negative things and kind of find inspiration.”
Although, he did say that “if you feel like you believe in something…to clearly stand for, I think you should have the courage to do [it], whether you’re a musician or not.”
Check out ‘The Adults Are Talking’ by The Strokes:
