cats

Cats/YouTube

2020 Democrats refuse to answer our questions about ‘Cats’

Something smells funny ... and it's not the Meow Mix.

 

Claire Goforth

Tech

Posted on Jul 19, 2019   Updated on May 20, 2021, 8:22 am CDT

Scarcely 24 hours have passed since the world caught its first glimpse of the much-anticipated movie adaptation of Cats. Yet already it’s safe to say that 2019 has been utterly redeemed by one of the longest-running Broadway shows leaping onto the silver screen.

With little fanfare, the first movie trailer for Cats dropped yesterday. In it, Jennifer Hudson sings “Memory,” the show’s best-known track and longtime staple of piano recitals the world over. That is intertwined with clips of she and her clowder of co-stars—Francesca Heyward, Dame Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Taylor Swift (!), and Rebel Wilson (!!)—frolicking about a larger-than-life world in stunning feline form.

The trailer whipped the internet into the kind of frenzy only glimpsed when Ivanka Trump makes small talk, or when the pope refuses to let people kiss his hand.

Naturally, the Daily Dot contacted Democratic presidential candidates to ask about their reaction to the Cats trailer, and if they planned to see the movie.

Not a single one responded.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) had time to tweet about her “cooking goals.” But she didn’t have time to talk about Cats.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was willing to spin some yarn at the AARP Advocate presidential forum, but not to dish on whether her Christmas plans include a clandestine midnight watching of the most anticipated musical of the year.

As the youngest presidential candidate, we were confident that South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg would be eager to share his opinion of the movie that is giving Dench a second chance at Cats’ glory. Dench explains in the behind-the-scenes video that she was cast in the play in 1981 but snapped her Achilles tendon just before opening night.

Alas, in his thirst for Insta likes, instead of telling us if he was going to watch it at the South Bend AMC or drive to Mishawaka to catch it at the Cinemark, Mayor Pete shook some old man’s hand while Old Glory waved in the not-at-all strategic background. (Is that flag even real?!)

Also suspiciously silent were former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Sen. Cory “I’m still here” Booker (D-N.J.), former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, and, much to our surprise, author Marianne Williamson. Perhaps there’s only room for one movie obsession in her life.

So what exactly are these candidates hiding about their feelings for Cats?

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*First Published: Jul 19, 2019, 4:14 pm CDT