People just keep wanting to make a story where there is none. There is no outrage in Atlanta over Usher voting. Did he get special treatment? Well kind of. Here is what really happened. In Atlanta, we had a lot of early voting opportunities. Lots of weekend voting stations set up and there were lines. Not long lines but lines. And the news cameras were out in full force showing people taking advantage of early voting. Most of the time the lines were not that long, average I’d say was 30 minutes or less. So Usher needs to vote. He knows if he goes on election day there is no way to know how long the lines would be. So he opts for early voting.
But first, he calls his voter site to let them know he is coming. Because, chaos tends to break out around Usher just like every other big time celebrity. Arrangements are made to take him in right away and get him out before the polling site is mobbed. He comes, he illegally takes a picture of a polling place and tweets it (oops), he votes for a FORWARD America as he put it in the tweet and he leaves.
Did he get special treatment? Yes. Was it the right thing to do? Yes. Usher did the right thing by alerting his polling place. The polling place did the right thing in not having him standing in line causing chaos. Everyone needs to stop making this a situation when it wasn’t.
P.S. While he tweeted his voting pic on Nov. 6 the polling people seemed to indicated he was there for early voting. Either way, who cares? You can’t have Usher in Atlanta in a polling line without having major drama. They made the right call.
P.P.S. I know it looks like he is standing in line there but he isn’t. See that sticker on his jacket? That’s the official “I Voted” sticker for Georgia.
Publicity for voting is fine with me. Maybe some young folks voted who wouldn’t otherwise because they saw him.
I gotta say…I am into history, and it wasn’t so long ago that black men were actively prevented from voting. I wonder how many people realize the historical significance of a black man being welcomed at the polls like this. I prefer that special treatment to the kind he might have received not so long ago.
Jesus Christ. REALLY???? It WAS such a long time. WE HAVE A FUCKING BLACK PRESIDENT. You can’t play that card anymore. It’s turned to a joker.
Well, hell. Women couldn’t vote that long ago either – where’s my special treatment?
I think you have your own Olympics.
Kerry, I understand what you mean. In the context of history, it was not long ago considering many people that post or our parents were alive during the voting rights act of 1965. And what’s in legislation does not trickle down to real life immediately…so yeah, it is always good to see Black men and women taking advantage of the freedoms now…however, Usher just does not make me feel any kind of way about it. Mr. “little freak” is a phony in every way and is certainly not significant. Celebrities aren’t the only ones who took pictures of themselves voting. When you take a picture all they do is tell you that you can’t do that and to please turn off your devices, they don’t make you delete it…so anyone can, if they want.
I agree in some instances Celebs need special treatment to avoid a huge mess. Why can’t the people who are complaining see that?
Why wouldn’t he just say he’s traveling and do an absentee ballot by mail?
I wondered the same thing… but he got special permission to photograph himself voting, ballot card, etc. When it is clearly a no-no. Maybe it was all for publicity?
This!