‘Dangerous’ for Democrats? Amber Rose Makes Controversial Appearance at RNC

Some prominent conservative voices are expressing dismay that model and former reality TV star Amber Rose was given a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Monday due to the celebrity’s public advocacy for abortion, among other concerns. While some observers say that Rose could help Republicans attract a broader swath of voters to the ballot box in November, others say it’s more important for the GOP to clearly define a pro-life position to distinguish itself from the Democrats.

Following Rose’s speech, podcast host and Daily Wire columnist Matt Walsh wrote, “The RNC gives a primetime speaking slot to a pro-abortion feminist ... Truly an embarrassment. Not a single voter will be mobilized by this person.”

When pressed on her religious beliefs during an appearance on “The Jason Lee Show” in March, Rose stated that she is “an atheist for sure.” When asked if there was a distinction between atheists and Satanists, she responded, “Satanists are atheist as well, but they’re just more political. It’s actually a very rational, logical religion. They help a lot of women to get abortions in southern states where they’re illegal.”

But in the months following the interview, Rose apparently chose to look past her pro-abortion views and publicly endorsed Trump in May. During her RNC speech on Monday, Rose did not mention abortion but instead stated that her “most important” role beyond being a “model and entrepreneur” was as a mother. “My whole world revolves around providing for my children, keeping them safe, and giving them an opportunity for a better life. That’s something that unites all American parents,” she remarked. Rose went on to cite rising inflation and gas prices, concluding, “American families were better when Donald Trump was president. We were safer, wealthier, and stronger. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote to put money back in our pockets and good food on our kids’ plates.”

Rose first gained fame in 2008 when she appeared in a music video for rapper Young Jeezy’s single “Put On.” She later gained tabloid attention by dating rapper Kanye West and becoming a model. She married rapper Wiz Khalifa in 2013 and they had a son together before divorcing. She gave birth to a second son in 2019 with Def Jam executive Alexander “A.E.” Edwards. She has made appearances on a number of reality shows, including “Dancing with the Stars,” “America’s Next Top Model,” and “Hell’s Kitchen.”

During past interviews, Rose has been frank about her difficult childhood, sharing how she worked as a stripper starting at age 15 to help her family financially after her parents divorced. She has also shared that being the victim of a sexually exploitive incident when she was 14 years old inspired her to lead a “SlutWalk” festival in Los Angeles, which has been described as an event to “honor all women who have been judged and demeaned for their sexual behavior.”

Like most Hollywood celebrities, Rose was previously anything but a Trump supporter. In 2016, the told The Cut, “[Trump]’s just such an idiot. He’s so weird. I really hope he’s not president.” But during Monday’s speech, Rose declared, “The truth is that the media has lied to us about Donald Trump. … For a long time I believed those lies.” She went on to describe how her father challenged her to prove that Trump was a “racist.” After watching rallies and meeting Trump followers, she “realized that Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re black, white, gay, or straight, it’s all love.”

Following her speech, Democratic strategist Van Jones remarked on CNN that Rose was “the most effective” of all the speakers during the convention’s first day. “That was probably the most dangerous speech for the Democratic coalition. That is a young woman of color. She is describing the experience that a lot of people have — feeling that maybe, if you’re around too many liberals, you might get criticized too much or you might not be able to speak your mind, and she spoke to it really well.”

Jones continued, “And she’s way more famous than any of us up here — I’m going to tell you that — way more famous. And so to the extent that these guys are trying to bust up our coalition, that was a bunker buster right there.”

Still, conservative commentators like Allie Stuckey are concerned that Rose’s appearance at the RNC is an indication that the Republican Party under Trump is moving further away from the bedrock moral principles that have historically grounded the party.

“Have [evangelicals] become, as I heard someone say recently, the ‘cheap date’ of the Republican Party?” Stuckey wondered during Tuesday’s episode of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins.” “… You don’t have to give us anything as long as you are a couple inches to the right of Biden — we have no option but to vote for you. Or at least that’s how a lot of people feel. That’s not a great position to be in. If the president feels like he needs to vie for the votes of someone like Amber Rose and whoever follows her more than he needs to vie for the vote of evangelical pro-lifers, then we’re in a very dangerous position, I would say, not just for the party, but for the country.”

Stuckey went on to emphasize that despite these concerns, evangelicals still must vote after careful and prayerful consideration.

“[R]ight now, we basically do have a binary system, and you are deciding between a White House, Biden and Harris, who will do everything possible to make abortion easier, to make it easier for authorities to take a child out of their parents’ home because the parent won’t go along with gender ideology. And then you’ve got a potential White House, Trump and Vance, who will not do those things. … So yes, that’s better. And everyone has to wrestle in their conscience about what that looks like for them.”