Just one look at Barrett Wilbert Weed‘s Instagram feed will have you feeling immediately inspired. The Broadway actress frequently shares empowering messages that serve as reminders to her dedicated followers and fans to stay engaged and active in the current political climate. A trend on her page most recently: getting out to vote. “If you care what happens to you or your friends or your family, and if you care about what is going to shape this country, it’s important to have your voice heard. It’s a right that we get that a lot of other people do not,” Barrett told HollywoodLife.com in an EXCLUSIVE interview. “But this is part of the learning process of being an American, you need to understand why it’s really important to vote. If people can manage to understand that they’re part of a voting population and part of deciding which direction the country is going to eventually go, if they can wrap their brains around the fact that if they don’t vote, they’re actually kind of jeopardizing democracy, then it starts to make more sense.”
Barrett has taken on a number of different causes, which she publicizes and supports on her social media. From her push for women’s rights, to her advocacy for the LGBTQ community, in between her eight shows a week as Janis in Mean Girls on Broadway, Barrett has become an important celebrity voice in political activism. “One of the best feelings I’ve ever felt was voting for Barack Obama in a swing state and then going home and watching the election with my friends and crying, because we felt like it was a really cool moment in our country’s history. It was amazing for us as a country, and as a culture, but it was also a really beautiful moment for all of my black friends, and all the black citizens in America,” Barrett discussed her first time heading to the polls in 2012. “Every voter matters because every vote matters. Especially during this time when I think a lot of people feel really helpless, this could be your chance to not feel helpless. This is your chance to do what you can do.”
At the moment, Barrett is joining the huge group of people calling for the eight undecided senators to vote against confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. “WOW WOW WOW GET ON THIS YA’LL,” Barrett wrote with a photo of each senator’s phone number. Still, she is hopeful in the future of America and the government, saying, “I believe that when we are paying attention, doing our part as the voting populace, I think the way the American government is set up is sound.” “Even conservative justices on the Supreme Court, they still have to judge by the constitution, they’re not allowed to judge by their religious beliefs when it comes to ruling in Supreme Court cases, they have to go by what’s constitutional and what’s not constitutional. The reason that abortion is legal in America is because the Supreme Court, which I would venture to guess was much more conservative thirty, forty years ago, ruled that the burden was undue to ask women to essentially take responsibility for the other half of the population’s irresponsibility, of impregnating them,” Barrett continued. “This is why it’s so important to vote, especially at a state level, as well, so you can keep yourself, and your body, safe. It’s really about voting in your own best interests instead of letting other people decide what your own best interest is.”
You can register to vote in the Rock The Vote module here on HollywoodLife. Also, New Yorkers, make sure you’re all set to vote in the New York State Primaries on Sept. 13!
Barrett Wilbert Weed is a Broadway actress currently starring as Janis Sarkisian in ‘Mean Girls.’ She is a three-time Broadway.com Audience Award winner for her role in ‘Mean Girls’ and a Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominee for her Off-Broadway role as Veronica in ‘Heathers: The Musical.’