Does Hollywood Prefer Virtue Signaling Over Real Gun Control?

Celebrities are on the march this weekend. Again.

The March for Our Lives, the umpteenth event of its kind, should bring the standard array of placards, speeches and incendiary rhetoric. Liberals and celebrities alike have been marching ever since President Donald Trump took the oath of office last year.

• The March for Science
• Two Women’s Marches
• The impeachment march
• The Not My Presidents Day event

This time, the march in question has a specific goal – to reduce gun violence in schools nationwide. That’s a noble pursuit, although some potential solutions, like arming teachers who volunteer to both carry and train extensively on weaponry, won’t be name checked.

It’s all ostensibly fueled by select survivors of the Parkland, Fla. School shooting. You don’t have to be a political whiz to grasp how those students’ efforts are being managed and magnified by professional gun control forces.

UPDATE: Amy Schumer Drops Truth Bomb During Hateful ‘March’ Speech

The media, as biased as at any time in modern history, is doing the rest. Reporters are passing along the movement’s talking points with little to no skepticism, allowing the students to smear anyone who opposes them in the ugliest ways possible.

So how do celebrities fit into the picture? Have a seat. This may take a while.

Far-left comedienne Amy Schumer will be headlining the L.A. portion of the nationwide movement. She’ll be joined by “Black-ish’s” Yara Shahidi, Connie Britton, Olivia Wilde and Skai Jackson.

Jimmy Fallon already used his sizable “Tonight Show” perch to promote the left-wing movement.

“I just want to remind everybody that this Saturday, March 24, students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have organized a march in Washington. It’s called the March for Our Lives, and it’s to tell the government, loud and clear, that we demand change on the issue of gun control,” Fallon said on air this week.

“The Opposition” host Jordan Klepper, a serial opponent of the Second Amendment, is throwing a slumber party with the progressive Parkland students. That comes on the heels of his 2017 special, “Jordan Klepper Solves Guns,” which proved as anti-NRA as one might expect from Hollywood in the 21st century.

Other stars won’t be marching. They’ve already flexed their bank accounts. Among the celebrities who wrote some really big checks for the march include George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg.

There’s just one problem with this round of celebrity virtue signaling. And it’s huge.

A new study showed that the more celebrities talk up gun control, the more people support the Second Amendment.

Zogby Analytics found that when movie stars, who often have their own gun-toting security protecting them, slam access to guns, support for guns increases.

The poll provided to Secrets found that millennials especially repel at Hollywood’s anti-gun message, which can be especially hypocritical coming from those involved in violent movies, TV shows and video games.

“Hollywood interjecting itself into the debate makes even the Democratic base want to bear arms,” said the survey analysis in a surprising finding. “There could also be an element of hypocrisy driving the numbers, since many actors and actresses have bodyguards who carry guns and Hollywood churns out movies depicting guns and violence,” it said.

Given that reality, stars would be wise to keep quiet and let the activists seize the day. They can still write as many checks as they wish for the cause, albeit without any huzzahs (or press releases). By standing down they’ll give the movement a greater chance to succeed.

RELATED: Comedy Central: NRA Convention is ‘Comic-Con for Death’

Students who survived a school shooting, in theory, are far more effective at getting the message out than any A-lister. Even diehard NRA members have sympathy for students who survived a mass shooting even if they respectfully disagree with their solutions.

Only the stars can’t help themselves. They have to inject themselves into the march.

Enter The Hollywood Reporter. The liberal entertainment site published an article this week describing how Hollywood will be keeping a low profile during the event.

Hollywood for once is ducking publicity. While much of the entertainment industry has thrown its support behind the March 24 March for Our Lives in Washington — and the larger gun-safety movement launched in the wake of the Feb. 14 shooting that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida — stars, reps and execs are purposely downplaying their involvement….

The discretion arises in part from sensitivity to the life-and-death nature of the issue but also from awareness that gun-control detractors can point to Hollywood involvement as evidence of a big-money liberal agenda, thereby discrediting the work of such students as Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg, who, organizers insist, truly have been driving the movement.

Once again, it’s clear that Hollywood players understand the impact of their posturing. And they’d like it to be known that they won’t be large and in charge during the events.

The facts say otherwise.

Besides all the aforementioned examples, this weekend’s Stay Amped D.C. benefit concert will feature Fall Out Boy, G-Eazy, Bebe Rexha and Lizzo. Stars have been using social media for weeks to promote the event and share their talking points.

Over at Billboard.com the number of stars is highlighted. And it’s only a partial list.

In the realm of music, Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Jennifer Hudson recently pledged to join the march

Among many others, Justin Bieber, Garth Brooks, Eddie Vedder, Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake have also promoted or tweeted supportively of the movement.

None of this includes the recent “Modern Family” PSA supporting the March and attacking the NRA.

It’s similar to what we saw during the recently concluded film awards season. Stars used every event podium possible to share their progressive talking points. All the while the Oscars producers shared how politically charged comments hurt the ratings of these award galas.

They literally could watch the ratings plummet when stars got on their soapboxes. They kept speaking out all the same.

Even Clooney, who likely leaked the news that he sent a huge check to the March, couldn’t keep quiet this weekend. He just released an “open letter” to The Guardian, perhaps the ultimate Virtue Signaling move.

“You make me proud of my country again,” he said of the Parkland anti gun students, the latest example of a liberal’s pride being conditional on the party in power.

So this weekend we’ll hear plenty from the brightest stars in entertainment. They’ll sing, they’ll cheer, they’ll chant … and they’ll like assault both the NRA and GOP. That’s despite the pressure to de-politicize the event.

The media will dutifully repeat their words with little to no fact checking. They may even raise a pom pom or two. Maybe three.

And the cumulative effect may be more Americans cling to their Second Amendment rights in the process.

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