Is Charlie Puth a secret Trump supporter?

Does Charlie Puth, the squeaky clean singer-songwriter, have a dark side? Receipts circulating online suggest he's a fan of Donald Trump, expressing support for him and his policies on multiple occasions. Screenshots from Puth's private Facebook account, some of which date back to November 2016, reveal him sharing videos in favor of the then-presidential candidate.

Babe has been able to verify that this Facebook account was used by Puth to share pro-Trump statuses. Puth family members are friends with that profile and exchange posts with him. Also, the URL of Puth's account is otto.rockitt – Otto is his middle name.

And on this profile, he has shared posts in admiration of Donald Trump. Like this one, from 29 June 2016 – it's a pro-Trump video captioned: "Trump wants to STOP rebuilding other countries and rebuild America. AND HE'S BEEN SAYING IT FOR 30 YEARS."

A post on the FOTP gossip forum uncovered many of Puth's conservative, pro-Trump posts, compiled by a user named Hermione in 2016 – they found these screenshots and uploaded them to the site. At the time the screenshots were made, Puth's profile picture showed his an image of his dog, Brady (his profile picture today is blank).

Another post on his profile suggests he signed and circulated a petition to demand that Hillary Clinton be locked up, and then encouraged others to do the same.

Last week, at the March For Our Lives, Puth sang for the crowd in Los Angeles that called for an end to gun violence. "There’s such a theme of change happening," he said, before launching into a new song from his upcoming album.

But a post he made on his Facebook account on June 13 2016, a day after the tragedy at the Orlando nightclub shooting, suggests a very different opinion to gun laws. Puth shared a post by Aton Ben-Horin, a music producer who he has worked with, which railed against political correctness as a more important issue than gun control when it came to stopping mass shootings. The post read:

"Yes, gun control laws is part of the problem in this specific case, and I agree that background checks and restrictions need to be stepped up. But the bigger change that needs to happen has nothing to do with guns. It's time to take the political correctness out of America. People are more concerned with hurting people's feelings than saving lives. You can't call someone racist for wanting tougher screenings and background checks. It's common sense."

Puth's account is now private, meaning no new posts are visible. But by trawling back through his Facebook profile, babe unearthed Facebook activity Puth made on a far-right Republican activist's Facebook by the name of Steven Crowder. Crowder calls himself a conservative comedian, and makes a living by peddling reactionary views about Islam and feminism. He has slut-shamed women for having sex before marriage, and uploads videos like "Moderate Islam: A MYTH!", "Ugly Feminist Bitches About Marriage! Smackdown Ensues…" and "Spot the Tranny Game!" (that one is exactly as bad as you think it is).

Puth liked this anti-Obama meme that called him a "disgrace" for wanting to find homes for Syrian refugees while seemingly ignoring homelessness among veterans.

He also liked Trump's infamous taco bowl photo, and this picture of Kim Kardashian.

Back in 2015, Puth gave about Trump in which he shied away from revealing his beliefs. "It's probably better to never, ever talk about political things because people hate you," he told Rolling Stone magazine. "They'll beat me up if I say something wrong."

It's worth adding that Puth's fans have long defended him against accusations that he is a closet Trump supporter. They point to how he once retweeted Obama and liked an Instagram post criticizing Trump's comments after Charlottesville. They also identify a Snapchat video he took on the eve of the 2016 election that added a Hillary Clinton filter, although he didn't tell his fans to vote for her, just: "Vote tomorrow."

Puth came under fire in 2016 for saying the Kesha v Dr Luke trial was "devastating for both parties," praising Luke as a "production idol."

He later apologized, saying: "I'm extremely sensitive to the issues females face in the music industry. I apologize to Kesha if I came across as insensitive, but by no means did I mean any harm."

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