15 celebrities who got political in 2018

10. Ludacris

In politics, money is often one of the strongest factors in a campaign. It’s not a kind or easy truth, but a politician with some serious financial backing has a much better chance of making waves than someone with a paltry campaign fund. Even politicians who aren’t suspected of abusing campaign money have plenty of opportunities to use it up, from political ads, to paying staff, to ponying up for travel across the nation, to courting major donors. Like it or not, visibility and influence in politics comes with a price tag.

That’s why celebrities who raise money for a given candidate can have a major impact. That is also why someone who raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for a politician automatically gets pretty political.

Ludacris, the Atlanta-based rapper and actor who’s been releasing music since the late 1990s, was already well-known for his political views before 2018 reared its head. Way back in 2008, he released “Politics (Obama is Here)”, a rap that praised then-candidate Barack Obama and attacked Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain, both Obama’s rivals at the time. Obama was reportedly embarrassed by the track. His campaign condemned Ludacris and said that he should be ashamed of himself. Ouch.

That rebuke from his favorite politician didn’t turn Ludacris from politics for too long. Though he isn’t running for office, Ludacris has lent his visibility to fundraising campaigns and spoken out as he sees fit. Most recently, he co-hosted a concert fundraiser for Stacey Abrams, who was running for the Governor of Georgia. Along with other celebrities, Ludacris helped to raise over $300,000 for Abrams (who eventually lost the race to Brian Kemp).