As part of his Profoundly Disconnected campaign to make students and, really, the country in general, aware of the opportunities and good money available to those who choose a career in the trades, Mike Rowe has been making a lot of appearances lately.
A little while back he appeared on Bill Maher’s HBO show “Real Time” and more recently he went on Glenn Beck’s radio show (which is also broadcast on TheBlaze TV, which Beck founded). Maher and Beck and both polarizing figures for their respective and opposing political views and, unsurprisingly, Rowe reports that he took some flack from his fans for both appearances.
“Mike – Saw you hangin with Bill Maher. I had no idea you were a liberal,” wrote Bob Reidel to Rowe after his appearance on “Real Time.” “Really blew me away. Love everything you do but now that I know who you really are, I won’t be tuning in to watch anything your involved with.”
Ouch. Then there was this from Shannon K. Walsh: “Mike – How could you associate with such a horrible and psychotic person that is Glen Beck? I wouldn’t accept a dime off that hateful, nasty racist. Very disappointed to see this post.”
“Truth is, every time I go on Fox, my liberal friends squeal. And every time I show up on MSNBC, my conservative pals whine. Not because they disagree with my position – everyone agrees that closing the skills gap is something that needs to happen,” Rowe writes on his Facebook page. “No, these days, people get bent simply if I appear on shows they don’t like, or sit too close to people they don’t care for.”
Rowe has responded to these comments in the hopes that people will put their political dispositions aside to realize that he’s trying to reach all Americans with this issue, not just the ones you agree with personally. Rowe says Profoundly Disconnected “is not a PR campaign for Mike Rowe.”
“It’s a PR campaign for skilled labor and alternative education. PR campaigns need … that’s right, PR, and if I limit my appearances to those shows that I personally watch, hosted only by those personalities with whom I personally agree, I might as well start a church and preach to the choir,” Rowe explained.
