The Strokes’ frontman Julian Casablancas has taken to social media to note his refusal to vote in the 2024 U.S election, and explaining his reasoning for doing so.
Taking to Instagram on Tuesday (Nov. 5), the vocalist shared an image of a sticker which read “I Protested” instead of the typical “I Voted” illustration. In the caption, Casablancas explained that his post had been prefaced by a discussion with his mother, who expressed her disagreement with his decision to abstain from the democratic process.
“My beautiful sweet amazing mom just told me ‘I agree with you but right now vote at lease to keep trump from winning. Think of your children’,” he wrote. “I understand and respect that viewpoint of marginal incremental betterment, but respectfully do not think it is the path…
“Like I told her, I am thinking of my children. The 2 parties are a joke… a horrible lie,” he continued. “The military and oil companies and banks are who we are voting for – and the media is their propaganda/entertainment wing. [And] with the way they cheated Bernie I see little point in choosing between these puppets… They want you to think it matters. That way nothing will change but it has to change.”
Casablancas’ post was met with widespread criticism in the comments, with fans on sites such as Reddit noting they were “super disappointed” in his decision. Fans on the same site were quick to point out that Casablancas’ bandmate, bassist Nikolai Fraiture, had shared his own sticker from his early voting experiences on Oct. 31.
Casablancas also caught the attention of music fans earlier in the week when he spoke to The Guardian for their ‘Honest Playlist’ feature in support of The Voidz’ new album, Like All Before You. In the discussion, Casablancas reflected on The Strokes’ discography, noting that their breakthrough single “Last Nite” (which peaked at No. 5 on the Alternative Airplay chart in 2002) is a song he can “no longer listen to”.
“‘Last Nite’ by the Strokes is pretty dead to me. I’m not sure why,” he stated. “There are some others like ‘Reptilia’, ‘Hard to Explain’, ‘Someday’, ‘Take It Or Leave it’, ‘New York City Cops’ that are comparable in terms of crowd reaction that I’m not quite as sick of. If I heard it on the radio, I’d probably turn it off.”
