Kris Kristofferson Knew He’d Be More “Marketable” This Way, but He Still Didn’t Do It

Since his death in late September 2024, countless fans, historians, and fellow musicians have poured out their love and appreciation for Kris Kristofferson as a songwriter, guitarist, actor, and friend. But even beyond these well-deserved accolades, Kristofferson was something much more than a prolific songwriter or charming screen actor. Ironically, this essential characteristic was also the one that put his professional career in harm’s way the most.

He was, in the deepest part of his being, a human rights activist. And indeed, Kristofferson knew that by dedicating his life to this pursuit, he was making himself decidedly less marketable. He did it anyway.

Why Kris Kristofferson Turned His Nose Up At “Marketable”

It’s hard to imagine a rugged Everyman like Kris Kristofferson considering himself to be above or too good for anything. But he did have one exception: commercial marketability. The songwriter was no stranger to scrounging his way through the music business. In the late 1960s, Kristofferson struggled to make ends meet as he unsuccessfully pitched songs in between shifts as a janitor, barkeep, and commercial helicopter pilot (a lengthy resume indeed, but not the one you’d expect from a Rhodes scholar and army captain).

So, when the time finally came for Kristofferson to get his big break, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume he’d do anything to keep that success close. However, as radio bans, protests, and his fair share of crowds booing him on-stage pockmarked his career, Kristofferson proved he didn’t care about likability. First and foremost, he wanted to be fair, just, and compassionate.

“I was in Nicaragua with the Saninistas,” Kristofferson recalled in a 2006 interview with Esquire. “I’ve argued for Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, the United Farm Workers. I’ve been a radical for a long time. I guess it’s too bad—I’d be more marketable as a right-wing redneck. But I got into this to tell the truth as I saw it.”

A Decades-Long Dedication To Standing Up For What’s Right

From the aforementioned social justice causes to which he dedicated his time to lending a supporting hand to a young Sinead O’Connor as an angry crowd booed her for her comments denouncing the Catholic church, Kris Kristofferson has never been afraid to stand up for what he believes to be right—even if few or no people join him in his cause. His activist efforts were prideless, persistent, and void of any desperate pleas for popularity.

“The Peliter issue was hot and remains in so many ways,” Kristofferson’s former manager, Mark Rothbaum, told Rolling Stone. “But Kris used his stardom for the benefit of others. I don’t think he gave a hoot one way or the other about what it temporarily might do to his stardom. He lent his hand to those who were being oppressed. He couldn’t stay out of it.”

Kristofferson wasn’t just a passionate activist. He was a deeply informed one. During a 2005 appearance on Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, Kristofferson said he was so outspoken about social justice because he was “exposed to information that I thought was not what I had been brought up to believe that my government stood for. I came from a background of duty, honor, and country, and I felt it was my duty to tell what we were doing [in other countries].”

He wasn’t afraid to tell it like it is to his colleagues, either, like the time he got into a tense verbal exchange with fellow country star Toby Keith over politics backstage. Indeed, Kristofferson’s priorities remained the same whether the year was 1969 or 2019, further setting him apart from his contemporaries in a remarkable league of his own: musician, actor, writer, yes, but more importantly, a champion of human rights.

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