William Baldwin on Celebrities and Politics

Aug. 15, 2000 -- When Hollywood meets the Beltway this week at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, celebrities will turn out in force to show their support for the party and the Gore/Lieberman ticket. But while some stars may be there just for the parties and photo opportunities, actor William Baldwin is there on business.

Though Baldwin may be better known as the star of Sliver and Backdraft, he is also an established social and political advocate. In his capacity as president of The Creative Coalition, Baldwin is eager to raise awareness about topics like the environment, abortion-rights issues and homelessness.

What do celebrities bring to political advocacy? Do stars have a responsibility to help educate the public about social and political issues? Baldwin chatted live from the Democratic National Convention with ABCNEWS.com viewers. A transcript of the chat appears below.

Moderator at 3:02pm ET

Welcome, Billy Baldwin, to ABCNEWS.com. Thanks very much — we appreciate your time.

William Baldwin at 3:03pm ET

I'm here with a mock delegation, if you will. I am the president of a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group called The Creative Coalition. It's a group of arts and entertainment professionals who are socially and politically active. It was founded in 1989, based in New York, but we have offices in Los Angeles and Washington as well. We are currently active in First Amendment rights, arts advocacy and public education.

Moderator at 3:05pm ET

A number of people have asked questions about your personal background, and how you became active politically. I'm going to paraphrase some questions from our audience. Were you politically active before you became an actor, and what is it about your family background and the way you were brought up which influenced your desire to become an activist?

William Baldwin at 3:06pm ET

I was an activist who happened to become a celebrity, not a celebrity who happened to become an activist. My advocacy and my social and political passions are genetically encoded. My father was a public high school government teacher for 35 years, and a social and political activist as well.

I have a degree in political science from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and I worked briefly on the Hill for former Rep. Downey from the second congressional district in Long Island.

I've been active in politics my whole life, or at least interested and drawn to politics. Current affairs was always a topic of discussion at the dinner table in the Baldwin household.

Susan from meespiersonusa.com at 3:07pm ET

How did you personally become involved in important social issues like the environment and homelessness? Why was it important to you to act out on behalf of the people?

William Baldwin at 3:10pm ET

I think, again, public service is a value that was instilled in me by my parents, and instilled in all my siblings at a very early age. To be of service, to give something back, is probably the greatest gift that you can give your child. I have a 5 1/2-month-old daughter — my first child; if there's a small handful of things I'd like to pass on to her, that'd be one of them.

Being a celebrity, it's a different situation. The mantra of The Creative Coalition is, "use the voice you were given." As it specifically relates to The Creative Coalition, using the voice you were given deals more with the resource of celebrity, which not all of us have.

But we can all apply that term — use the voice you are given — whether you are celebrity or not. You use the tools you have; you use the resources you have, the power you have, the influence. You use the information and the knowledge to empower yourself and go out and be able to advocate responsibly and effectively.

Nancy Mixon from tamu.edu at 3:10pm ET

America — United in Human Rights

I would give anything to have the media give Susan Sarandon's views on the death penalty just a 10th of the attention they have used to say, "Clinton hurts Gore, Clinton scandal still an issue." What are your views on the injustices of the death penalty?

William Baldwin at 3:13pm ET

This is not an area that I can speak to as responsibly as I can others. From what I do know, I can tell you that I do not, have never, and don't believe that I ever will support the death penalty. I don't believe that as a civilized society that that's a reasonable and compassionate way to deal with crime.

If you have a criminal who has confessed, and there are eye witnesses, and there's a DNA match, and they have committed an overwhelmingly heinous crime, I don't believe that they should be put to death. I just don't believe that in a civilized society we should be putting people to death — but I do understand why people feel that way.

If you look at the Wendy's case in the borough of Queens in New York City, two men took all of the employees into the icebox after hours and shot them execution-style, and there's absolutely no question as to their guilt. I could understand why someone would support the death penalty under these circumstances, even though I don't agree with them.

If you're a parent — and this is a very unpleasant conversation for me, because I have a daughter — if someone committed a heinous crime against a child, I understand why a grandparent or parent would feel that way. But as a culture, I don't feel that our government should be setting that type of example.

Ron N. from aofurn.com at 3:16pm ET

How would you respond to a parent's concern about too much violence in the movies and TV?

William Baldwin at 3:18pm ET

I would absolutely sympathize and agree that there is a problem with graphic and gratuitous sexual and violent content in film, TV, the recording industry and video games. But I don't believe that is has to be a First Amendment issue.

I think that it's a viable form of entertainment — Arnold Schwarzenegger films, Jean-Claude Van Damme films, that's what you're talking about. And it's a tremendous market. I think the question is: How do we prevent inappropriate material from reaching the wrong audience?

The rating system can be improved. The enforcement of the rating system is nonexistent.

Here's something that may be a viable alternative to only talking about the rating system and its enforcement: It would be interesting to introduce media literacy into the classroom. Then you could teach children — sort of like sex education but much earlier — to process what they're seeing in the media, advertising, TV and movies — only material that's appropriate to them — and teach them to interpret and process it in a more helpful way.

One caveat: I think the entertainment industry has done a good job. There was only a rating system in place for the motion picture industry, and over the past 10 years they've introduced a rating system for the recording industry, for TV and for video games. I think that that's a terrific start.

I think that there's room for improvement. I think there's a greater role for the entertainment industry to play in finding solutions for this problem. I also think the industry is not the only one responsible for finding a solution to this problem. I believe that legislators and educators and law enforcement and communities, and most importantly, parents, all have a seat at the table in addressing this issue and solving this problem.

Michelle from premia.com at 3:24pm ET

Do you think that Sen. Lieberman's views on Hollywood will hurt Gore's chances of being elected?

William Baldwin at 3:26pm ET

Clearly not. I know for certain after meeting with many high-level Republicans at the convention last week that the Democratic VP choice that struck the greatest fear in the heart of Republicans was Joe Lieberman.

That's what I heard repeatedly in Philadelphia at the RNC. And for good reason. If you're looking to win in November against Bush/Cheney, he was the best and most compatible choice to meet that end, I think, largely because of the way he handled the whole Lewinsky crisis: with class and dignity.

And also because of his more conservative positions on several social issues, including media violence. I think that they will both play well among moderates, Republicans, Democrats and independents. The sort of people in New York who voted for Giuliani and not Dinkins — I think they can be brought back into the Democratic fold.

Moderator at 3:28pm ET

Let's wrap this up with a two-part question: Are you supporting Gore and Lieberman? And are you ever thinking of running for office yourself?

William Baldwin at 3:29pm ET

My organization is nonpartisan, and I wore my nonpartisan hat in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. But at some point, the nonpartisan hat comes off and then the gloves come off.

I've supported Vice President Gore throughout his career and have already campaigned for him and written my check in support of his candidacy, and will continue to do so until we get across the finish line on election day. I caucused for the Vice President for the Iowa caucus. I've known the Vice President since before I was an actor, when I was fetching coffee and mastering the autopen for Congressman Downey.

You know what? First and foremost, I'm an actor. Ironically, what fuels my access and influence as an activist is my success as an actor and my level of celebrity. What I really need is a hit movie; so if all of you will go see my movie opening on Friday — I'm just kidding, I don't have a movie opening. If I have a hit movie, it gives my show business career a shot in the arm, and it gives my advocacy career a correlating shot in the arm.

Moderator at 3:32pm ET

Thank you so much for your time.