Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger shared an optimistic feeling for America following the 2020 Presidential Election result announced Saturday.
Within hours of the news that Joe Biden had been declared president-elect, Jagger took to Twitter to echo widespread calls for peace, calm and empathy in United States.
“I’m so looking forward to coming back to an America free of harsh words and name calling and be amongst people who I know have common ground and harmony,” Jagger wrote. “It’s a challenge but it can be done!”
Jagger has stayed away from speaking openly about the U.S. election and did not mention either President Trump or President-elect Biden, though he has made allusions to the Stateside political turmoil.
In a social post a few days before Election Day in the U.S., Jagger shared a video of himself singing a new song called “Pride Before a Fall,” which many took as an allusion to President Trump's shrinking odds for re-election.
While it’s unclear if Jagger’s hopefulness is a result of Biden’s election or the simple fact that the election ended without violent protests some feared, the music icon has certainly had his differences over the years with the Trump administration.
As recently as this past June, The Rolling Stones threatened legal action against Trump’s campaign for continuing to play Stones’ music at rallies without permission.
A year ago, Jagger was critical of the “current administration” for rolling back regulations meant to address climate change.
“The U.S. should be the world leader in environmental control, but now it has decided to go the other way,” he said at the time.
Jagger’s longtime partner Keith Richards has not directly commented on the election, either, except to express his support for the Black Lives Matter movement in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
“It’s about bloody time,” Richards said. “I mean, in this country [the U.S.], things are coming to head. That’s the way it is. You got to deal with it. It’s difficult for me to talk about it, because I’m not an American. I live here, I am in heart and soul, I am one of you, but I can’t interfere.”
His support of BLM should not come as a surprise, Richards continued, as the Rolling Stones owe their career to inspiration from Black American musicians, like Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Little Richard and others.
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