The Complacency of Celebrity Culture
Celebrities can't handle facing one of the biggest critics in the entertainment industry, a reality check.
By Selena Ganguly
Celebrities can't handle facing one of the biggest critics in the entertainment industry, a reality check.
By Selena Ganguly
This pandemic has really shown how tone-deaf celebrities have been. They act like they understand what it is to be a normal person by posting in their multi-million dollar mansions as if it’s nothing too out of the ordinary.
Especially within this past year, I can’t name how many celebrities got away with breaking Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines yet they’ll still say, “we’re just like you guys” since they have that privilege of not facing major repercussions in real life.
Ignorant celebrities like Jason Derulo forget about basic human decency when he celebrated his number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Savage Love” alongside BTS and Jawsh 685 by inviting a bunch of “TikTokers” to a fancy restaurant, closely packed in, hugging and kissing each other while he showed off his receipt which was exactly a total of $112,742.30. That alone could’ve been used for COVID-19 relief funds instead of a party in Los Angeles County that already had around 300,000 confirmed cases at the time in October 2020.
Though I feel it is justified to call him out for this type of behavior, it would also be hypocritical of me to mention celebrities similar to Derulo and not acknowledge my favorite celebrities have done this as well.
As much as I love and support Jung Kook of BTS, finding out he went out to eat with his friends during a pandemic after participating in stay-at-home campaigns himself disappointed me. I’m glad he recognized his actions and has actively shown public social distancing ethics to the public after that incident, but there is more to that. When it was first brought to light, some fans have tried to defend his actions when he received extreme backlash by saying what’s the difference between him and the general public doing the same thing? Yet, ironically that statement separates his status from the public even further by making it seem like he could do no wrong— that’s the problem.
Too often we have excused celebrities by putting them on a higher pedestal than regular people. We interpret these situations as being extremely “negative” or “positive” no matter the context with no in-betweens. Often the mob mentality of certain fans is on defense mode and pushes the offense on others, yet when it’s just a regular person no one makes a big deal of what side they’re on.
Lana Del Rey’s mask controversy is a prime example of this when she had her surprise book signing at Barnes & Noble. She wore a mesh mask and took photos with fans at an extremely close distance where the side of the faces are touching. Del Rey responded to the Michigan Daily, a college newspaper, that brought up this event by claiming there was plastic lining underneath her mask. Most of her fans believed it and said the writer should’ve done more research, while others say the photos during the event don’t match up to what she has claimed. Either way, the newspaper got the most backlash from her fans but didn’t excuse her from holding an unnecessary event around the same time and area as Derulo’s party.
The harsh reality of it all is most celebrities aren’t genuinely ignorant, they just choose to be ignorant. It has just been more noticeable during the pandemic yet there are so many instances of privilege that go unnoticed that are categorized as “only” the celebrity being problematic.
If Sia was genuinely ignorant, she would’ve taken the time out of her day to learn about autism, but instead has created a film cussing out anybody who told her it was ableist as she shows off her two Golden Globe nominations. The Kardashians will be famous no matter what as long as they profit off of other people’s cultures and ethnic features for their brand. J. K. Rowling will say the Harry Potter franchise is inclusive for LGBTQ+ people while proceeding to perpetuate transphobic views as long as critics praise the series.
All of that while people hide behind those controversies like businesses allowing celebrities social gatherings for paparazzi to barge into so long as they make money? Major critics indirectly saying it is okay to allow derogatory views through praises and nominations? All at the expense of people spreading lies while dismissing real harmful issues at hand?
It’s no longer celebrity culture, this is complacency culture we have adapted to in our lives unintentionally. With that in mind, here's my letter to celebrities and those part of that culture.
Dear the ones who’ve partaken in this culture, we are not asking for you to sympathize with our issues, what we are asking is for you to be transparent instead of being silent on certain narratives you’ve contributed to. We are not “canceling” you by holding you accountable, we want you to realize your privilege and how your privilege has affected society’s perceptions and those around you. Sincerely, the biggest critic you’ll ever meet, reality.
Especially within this past year, I can’t name how many celebrities got away with breaking Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines yet they’ll still say, “we’re just like you guys” since they have that privilege of not facing major repercussions in real life.
Ignorant celebrities like Jason Derulo forget about basic human decency when he celebrated his number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Savage Love” alongside BTS and Jawsh 685 by inviting a bunch of “TikTokers” to a fancy restaurant, closely packed in, hugging and kissing each other while he showed off his receipt which was exactly a total of $112,742.30. That alone could’ve been used for COVID-19 relief funds instead of a party in Los Angeles County that already had around 300,000 confirmed cases at the time in October 2020.
Though I feel it is justified to call him out for this type of behavior, it would also be hypocritical of me to mention celebrities similar to Derulo and not acknowledge my favorite celebrities have done this as well.
As much as I love and support Jung Kook of BTS, finding out he went out to eat with his friends during a pandemic after participating in stay-at-home campaigns himself disappointed me. I’m glad he recognized his actions and has actively shown public social distancing ethics to the public after that incident, but there is more to that. When it was first brought to light, some fans have tried to defend his actions when he received extreme backlash by saying what’s the difference between him and the general public doing the same thing? Yet, ironically that statement separates his status from the public even further by making it seem like he could do no wrong— that’s the problem.
Too often we have excused celebrities by putting them on a higher pedestal than regular people. We interpret these situations as being extremely “negative” or “positive” no matter the context with no in-betweens. Often the mob mentality of certain fans is on defense mode and pushes the offense on others, yet when it’s just a regular person no one makes a big deal of what side they’re on.
Lana Del Rey’s mask controversy is a prime example of this when she had her surprise book signing at Barnes & Noble. She wore a mesh mask and took photos with fans at an extremely close distance where the side of the faces are touching. Del Rey responded to the Michigan Daily, a college newspaper, that brought up this event by claiming there was plastic lining underneath her mask. Most of her fans believed it and said the writer should’ve done more research, while others say the photos during the event don’t match up to what she has claimed. Either way, the newspaper got the most backlash from her fans but didn’t excuse her from holding an unnecessary event around the same time and area as Derulo’s party.
The harsh reality of it all is most celebrities aren’t genuinely ignorant, they just choose to be ignorant. It has just been more noticeable during the pandemic yet there are so many instances of privilege that go unnoticed that are categorized as “only” the celebrity being problematic.
If Sia was genuinely ignorant, she would’ve taken the time out of her day to learn about autism, but instead has created a film cussing out anybody who told her it was ableist as she shows off her two Golden Globe nominations. The Kardashians will be famous no matter what as long as they profit off of other people’s cultures and ethnic features for their brand. J. K. Rowling will say the Harry Potter franchise is inclusive for LGBTQ+ people while proceeding to perpetuate transphobic views as long as critics praise the series.
All of that while people hide behind those controversies like businesses allowing celebrities social gatherings for paparazzi to barge into so long as they make money? Major critics indirectly saying it is okay to allow derogatory views through praises and nominations? All at the expense of people spreading lies while dismissing real harmful issues at hand?
It’s no longer celebrity culture, this is complacency culture we have adapted to in our lives unintentionally. With that in mind, here's my letter to celebrities and those part of that culture.
Dear the ones who’ve partaken in this culture, we are not asking for you to sympathize with our issues, what we are asking is for you to be transparent instead of being silent on certain narratives you’ve contributed to. We are not “canceling” you by holding you accountable, we want you to realize your privilege and how your privilege has affected society’s perceptions and those around you. Sincerely, the biggest critic you’ll ever meet, reality.