Interesting article from the New York Times. Give it a read. it's about time some of these out of touch celebrity windbags got called out.


Celebrity Culture Is Burning

www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/arts/virus-celebrities.html?searchResultPosition=1

Just a short taste of part of it:

“Staying home is my superpower,” the “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot reported from her walk-in closet. Ryan Reynolds urged his fans to “work together to flatten the curve” from within his rustic loft. When Jennifer Lopez posted a video of her family sheltering in the backyard of Alex Rodriguez’s vast Miami compound, the public snapped.

“We all hate you,” was one representative response.

Among the social impacts of the coronavirus is its swift dismantling of the cult of celebrity. The famous are ambassadors of the meritocracy; they represent the American pursuit of wealth through talent, charm and hard work. But the dream of class mobility dissipates when society locks down, the economy stalls, the death count mounts and everyone’s future is frozen inside their own crowded apartment or palatial mansion. The difference between the two has never been more obvious. The #guillotine2020 hashtag is jumping. As grocery aisles turn bare, some have suggested that perhaps they ought to eat the rich.

So when Pharrell Williams asked his followers to donate to aid frontline responders, they virtually grabbed him by the pants and shook him upside-down, telling him to empty his own deep pockets. Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard have been “outed” as landlords. As Ellen DeGeneres lounged on her sofa, video-chatting with famous friends, the comedian Kevin T. Porter solicited stories from service workers and Hollywood peons who had experienced run-ins with DeGeneres, whom he called “notoriously one of the meanest people alive.”

...under normal circumstances, they are accustomed to receiving accolades for “using their platforms” to “raise awareness” in the service of bland initiatives for the public good.

But our awareness has never been so easy to rouse, and misuse. Celebrities have a captive audience of traumatized people who are glued to the internet, eyes darting toward trending topics for clues to processing the unimaginable horrors looming just outside, and instead are finding Madonna bathing in a rose petal-strewn bath.

Stunts like Gal Gadot’s crowdsourced famous-person cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” are tone-deaf in more ways than one. Most of these people cannot even sing; their contributions suggest that the very appearance of a celebrity is a salve, as if a pandemic could be overcome by star power alone.

Madonna has elevated celebrity delusion to a kind of performance art. In a series of oddly professional Instagram videos suggesting a perhaps dangerous concentration of staff members in her home, she can be seen undergoing a bizarre healing procedure at her personal health clinic and bending over a typewriter in a kimono, pontificating about the social effects of the virus.

I think this is also the first time where celebrities are facing the same hardships like the rest of us everyday people simultaneously. We can't really go anywhere, and we're stuck at home for the foreseeable future.

I don't think so. There have always been h8ers on social media, they don't represent the average person.

In the early 2010s after the recession people doubled down on celebrity culture rather than rebel against it. Another name for celebrity is entertainer. Entertainers provide people with entertainment in dark times and give them a reason to smile and provide an escape. I wouldn't be surprised if the early 2020s pop culture takes a very light and some might say "fake" optimistic tone

I don't think so. There have always been h8ers on social media, they don't represent the average person.

In the early 2010s after the recession people doubled down on celebrity culture rather than rebel against it. Another name for celebrity is entertainer. Entertainers provide people with entertainment in dark times and give them a reason to smile and provide an escape. I wouldn't be surprised if the early 2020s pop culture takes a very light and some might say "fake" optimistic tone


Honestly, I think celebrities will stay respected after this. They help people to, as you said, be entertained during a time of crisis like this.

I don't think so. There have always been h8ers on social media, they don't represent the average person.

In the early 2010s after the recession people doubled down on celebrity culture rather than rebel against it. Another name for celebrity is entertainer. Entertainers provide people with entertainment in dark times and give them a reason to smile and provide an escape. I wouldn't be surprised if the early 2020s pop culture takes a very light and some might say "fake" optimistic tone


I don't particularly disagree with anything you say there, but at the same time it would help if some of these celebrities were less tone deaf. Madonna posting videos of herself rambling from a milk bath full of rose petals at a time like this? Is that supposed to inspire people? Not the biggest deal in the world for sure, but one might expect better. I watched part of that Elton John show with the Backstreet Boys and all that. Tim McGraw was singing from the diving board of his luxury pool. Doesn't work for me right now as entertainment or anything else. It rings hollow. Tone deaf.

And on a lighter note, all these celebrities in these videos have to spend less time trying to get their dogs and cats into the shot. McGraw spent more time signaling to his dog (who resolutely refused to comply) than paying attention to the song he was singing.  ;D

I don't think so. There have always been h8ers on social media, they don't represent the average person.

In the early 2010s after the recession people doubled down on celebrity culture rather than rebel against it. Another name for celebrity is entertainer. Entertainers provide people with entertainment in dark times and give them a reason to smile and provide an escape. I wouldn't be surprised if the early 2020s pop culture takes a very light and some might say "fake" optimistic tone

I can't see anybody being optimistic, reality hit hard and celebrities aren't immune. If anything I hope this makes them check their privilege.

I think this is also the first time where celebrities are facing the same hardships like the rest of us everyday people simultaneously. We can't really go anywhere, and we're stuck at home for the foreseeable future.


Nothing much you can do and celebrities are doing their best to try to entertain us as best as possible.

Over the years, I felt that celebrities forget where the money their earned comes from, it comes from their fans, those that buy their records, attend their concerts, see their films, etc. Also, I hate the attitude of three celebs today, Madonna, Ringo Starr and a leading British musical composer (ALW), both charge for their respective autographs! Ringo stating he is too busy to cater for his fans. At least, Paul McCartney has a better attitude, he will sign an autograph, but signs only once, say to his security to remember that face.

I can't see anybody being optimistic, reality hit hard and celebrities aren't immune. If anything I hope this makes them check their privilege.

Well, considering that they're all isolated like the rest of us, I guess their hierarchical privilege has already been checked.