Donald Trumps stunning victory Tuesday either sent Kamala Harriss celebrity supporters into social media meltdowns or left them trying to articulate their grief and disbelief.

Some pro-Harris stars meanwhile remained silent, perhaps realizing that 72 million Americans or 51% of voters didnt just reject their chosen candidate but helped to repudiate a belief in their power to influence culture and politics.

Cardi B lashed out at a fan who said on Instagram Live that she should appear at Donald Trumps second inauguration.

“I swear to god I’m gonna (expletive) you up, get away from me,” said the Grammy-winner rapper who stumped for Harris at a rally in Wisconsin last week.

TOPSHOT US producer and actress Oprah Winfrey (L) holds up US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris hand as she arrive onstage during a campaign rally on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 4, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

LeBron James expressed his concerns the potential threats of a second Trump presidency to womens reproductive rights by sharing a photo of himself with his 10-year-old daughter. The NBA champion said: HEAVY ON MY HEART & MIND THIS AM MY PRINCESS !! PROMISE TO PROTECT YOU WITH EVERYTHING I HAVE AND MORE!! WE DONT NEED THEIR HELP!

Billie Eilish echoed that view, saying on Instagram, Its a war on women, while Christina Applegate told people on X to unfollow me if you voted against female rights. Against disability rights. Ariana Grande more gently said, Holding the hand of every person who is feeling the immeasurable heaviness of this outcome today.

HOUSTON, TEXAS OCTOBER 25: Singers Beyoncé speaks at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, on October 25, 2024 in Houston, Texas. Harris is campaigning in Texas holding a rally supporting reproductive rights with recording artists Beyoncé and Willie Nelson. (Photo by Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, other entertainment and sports icons have thus far said nothing to their hundreds of millions of fans or social media followers notably Taylor Swift, who triggered Elon Musk so much than he threatened to impregnate her after she endorsed Harris in September with a childless cat lady reference. But ditto for Bad Bunny, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen, Eva Longoria and Harrison Ford, who recorded a video, warning voters about the grave threat Trump posed to democracy.

With Harris ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket, her campaign became a magnet for celebrities and the coolest thing in pop culture as she campaigned against former President Trump, another celebrity from his days as a reality TV star and a New York City tabloid figure.

The campaign expected that endorsements from stars with Gen-Z appeal could help the former San Francisco District Attorney sell her candidacy to the stars youthful fans, especially to young women who could be excited about the prospect of electing the first female president.

US singer-songwriter Lady Gaga performs during a campaign rally with US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 4, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

But in the post-election autopsy of Harris defeat, writers and political experts spoke about the conflicting ideas about the role of celebrity in presidential politics whether its useful for candidates to be celebrities themselves or to be able to wrap themselves in the glow of their celebrity associations.

Margaretha Bentley, a professor at Arizona State University whose classes have studied the social importance of Swift, was quoted in The Guardian as saying: In academic literature, research has shown that, while celebrity endorsements can increase civic engagement and voter registrations, it has not proven to have a direct impact on how people make their voting decisions.”

Seth Abramovitch, a senior writer at the Hollywood Reporter, suggested to The Guardian that Harris endorsements didnt help her widen her support because they came from celebrities who were preaching to the choir: Oprah, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Ariana Grande these are artists whose audiences (black, female, liberal, queer) were already inclined to vote for Kamala, Abramovitch said.

Abramovitch explained how Swift could have been an exception to this rule because her career in both country and pop music gives her fans on both sides of the American political divide. Her romance with Travis Kelce also may have brought her new fans from NFL world.

Yet I’d argue her massive influence does not reach two key demographic groups that helped Trump win this time – Latinos and black men, Abramovitch said.

But more than underperforming with Latinos and Black men, Harris also underperformed with almost every kind of young person, wrote Peter Hamby in Puck.

Despite the Brat Summer hype, all the clever and demure posts from KamalaHQ, and the promise of generational change, in the end it turned out that Gen Z wasn’t very interested in Kamala Harris, Hamby said.

Harris underperformed on 81-year-old Joe Bidens 2020 numbers with young voters. Plenty of students told Hamby that, yes, they couldnt stand Trump, a convicted felon and alleged insurrectionist who built a political coalition by stoking conspiracy theories and fear along the lines of race, gender, religion and transgender identity.

But students also told Hamby that they didnt have much affinity for the Democratic Party. As theyve come of age, the party has been led by aging and scripted Boomers like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer who havent made it easier for them

Barack Obama is a fading memory. Bernie Sanders a lost cause, a curdled meme, Hamby wrote. Along with Lopez, Harris other celebrity supporters included John Legend, Katy Perry and Eminem, who are associated with the Obama years, when Democrats actually had cultural credibility, when millennials were the tastemakers, Hamby said. Those days are no more.

It also appears that the days are no more when the American public necessarily holds celebrities in high regard. There has been a concerted effort by the Republican Party to deride celebrities as wealthy, liberal elites who dont understand the concerns of regular people, with Beyonces life probably not affected by the price of gas or the inability to buy a first home, New York University arts professor Laurence F. Maslon also told the The Guardian.

Indeed, data emerged in late October that suggests that Harris celebrity endorsements could actually have hurt her campaign. A YouGov poll showed that Swifts endorsement only made about 8% of voters somewhat or much more likely to vote for Harris, while 20% said that endorsement would make them less likely to vote for her.

The conclusion of the poll is that many Americans think celebrities should stay out of politics, YouGov said an idea in line with assertions made by the New York Times Peter Baker. Yes, Trump, accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women, led a testosterone-driven campaign that capitalized on resistance to electing the first woman president.

But Trumps comeback victory also was fueled by populist disenchantment with the nations direction and resentment against elites, Baker said.

The elites, of course, include Americas biggest stars in movies, TV, sports and music. This resentment was well illustrated when the 47th president-elect responded to Swifts Harris endorsement by announcing, I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.