I\u2019m not some sort of secret Reform voter, OK? As a Brit (albeit a Brit abroad), I\u2019ve got no problem with rich immigrants coming to the UK and taking all our mansions. I just think they really ought to integrate and not bring their funny foreign ideas with them.<\/p>\n
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, I\u2019m talking to you. The California couple arrived in the UK last year, just before Donald Trump won the election. As soon as the votes were in, they declared they weren\u2019t going<\/a> back, and would stay on the saner side of the Atlantic. I\u2019m not sure how the immigration logistics worked, but it seems \u201cone in, one out<\/a>\u201d schemes don\u2019t apply to people coming in on big jets, only small boats. The pair bought a fancy pad in the Cotswolds and DeGeneres buttered up the locals during a public appearance<\/a> in July by declaring \u201cEverything here is just better.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to be upbeat during a British summer, when all is green and pleasant. Now that the winter gloom has set in, however, rumour has it that the fairweather Brits are plotting a return to Trumpland. According to the Mail on Sunday<\/a> (so take all this with a few pinches of salt), the couple miss their friends and can\u2019t stand the thought of another British winter. I understand being homesick, but you lose a bit of street cred if you flee creeping fascism only to run straight back to it because you\u2019re not used to being a bit chilly. As my mother would say: just put on another jumper, Ellen! Abandon your weird American ideas about how the sky ought to be blue.<\/p>\n DeGeneres and De Rossi aren\u2019t the only celebs apparently rethinking just how averse they are to living under Trump. Ever since Trump burst on to the political scene, Hollywood has resembled an airport lounge: so many people have been announcing their imminent departures. But few have followed through. In 2016, for example, the comedian Amy Schumer<\/a> told Newsnight that she would \u201cmove to Spain or somewhere\u201d if Trump won the election. She later explained this was \u201csaid in jest<\/a>\u201d and, to be fair, it can be hard to know when Schumer is trying to be funny.<\/p>\n Miley Cyrus also pulled out the \u201cjust joking\u201d card to explain why her relocation plans changed. In March 2016 she announced she would move if Trump became president, adding:<\/a> \u201cI don\u2019t say things I don\u2019t mean!\u201d Cyrus later clarified<\/a> that she does, in fact, say things she doesn\u2019t mean. Barbra Streisand<\/a>, meanwhile, threatened to leave ahead of both the 2016 and 2024 elections but still doesn\u2019t appear to have made any moves.<\/p>\n There are, however, a handful of US celebrities who have actually fled and don\u2019t appear to have any plans to return. In March Courtney Love, who has lived in London since around 2019, said she was planning to get her British citizenship. While this doesn\u2019t seem to be purely because of Trump 2.0, she called the political situation in the US \u201cfrightening<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n At about the same time, the comedian Rosie O\u2019Donnell revealed that she had relocated her family to Ireland, citing concerns for her non-binary child<\/a> Clay. \u201cWhen you know it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that\u2019s when we will consider coming back,\u201d she said in a TikTok video. While it\u2019s easy to make fun of self-deporting celebrities \u2013 many of whom are insulated by their wealth from the effects of Trumpism \u2013 O\u2019Donnell was probably sensible to leave. The comedian has been in a long-running feud with Trump and, earlier this year, the president said he was considering stripping her of her US citizenship<\/a>. He might not be able to do this legally, but when a man with a cult-like following is calling you out in a country with escalating political violence, it\u2019s natural to feel worried for your personal safety.<\/p>\n There may not be a massive celebrity exodus yet, but the US does seem to be experiencing a brain drain because of Trump. A poll from the journal Nature found that 75% of researchers<\/a> in the US are considering leaving; international students also seem to be losing interest in venturing stateside<\/a>. Meanwhile, some experts in authoritarianism see the writing on the wall and are packing their bags. \u201cWe Study Fascism, and We\u2019re Leaving the US,\u201d the headline of a video op-ed three Yale professors<\/a> made for the New York Times earlier this year read before they left for Canada. A chilling message indeed. But nothing compared with a damp winter in the Cotswolds.<\/p>\n Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist<\/p>\n Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters<\/a> section, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m not some sort of secret Reform voter, OK? 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