After years of interviewing the same political figures, you’d think that Beltway reporters would be excited that D.C is now cool enough to attract big-name celebrities. Isn’t it so much better to hear Rosario Dawson opine about the Keystone pipeline? Actually, no. An article in The New Republic finds that Dawson, who is a fixture on the Capitol scene these days, is not as well-received as she’d hoped. In fact, most people think she’s pretty boring.
When Dawson made Politico’s “50 Politicos to Watch” list, along with Bradley Cooper, Kerry Washington, and Vince Vaughn, the news was met with a collective eye roll. The actress — who has been mentioned 64 times on the website for her work with the group Voto Latino (co-hosting various events and even protesting the pipeline) — is the celebrity least likely to say something interesting, according to Nikki Schwab, a columnist at Red Alert Politics. “She’s always very nice, but we’re sick of having to write the same story over and over again about her organization. She’s always good for a quote, but there’s not much new ground,” Schwab adds. The piece lacerates the “Beltway glommers-on” like Dawson (or the even more boring Mandy Moore and Alexis Bledel), who head to D.C., where they are still famous enough to drum up press for a chosen cause and draw guests to fund-raisers — and get major kudos for doing so. According to many reporters, Dawson is the worst perpetrator.
Another gossip columnist complained to TNR: “There are just so many randos that I have to interview … The ladies from the show ‘Dallas’ came for Meals on Wheels, Shaq came for some binge-drinking thing. But I really do think of Rosario Dawson as the worst because she is just … not that famous.” Now, hang on. Dawson is significantly more famous than the random ladies from the remake of Dallas. What makes her constant presence worse? Is it her imagined lack of fame (she was in Sin City, people!) that makes her the target of a kind of unfounded derision? I’m sure minority voters she’s representing through Voto Latino don’t care if she’s not good for a quote, because at least she’s saying something about them.
