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| Photo by Nathan DeFiesta on Unsplash |
What I wanted to talk about is how telling it was, that even with the collective endorsement of famous celebrities and
Hollywood A-listers, it didn’t help the VPOTUS’ bid to be the next
president of the US.
Days leading to the elections,
the Harris campaign was in full force. I’ve seen the likes of superstars Taylor Swift,
Beyonce, JLo, Oprah, Lady Gaga and even Eminem joining the fray and expressing
their support. Many of them
even made threats that they would leave the country if Trump won. Such a bold
statement that obviously didn’t go well for them.
The Kamala lineup was star-studded. I mean if we compare it to the celebrities on the Trump side: Zachary Levi, Scott Baio, Rob Schneider, Roseanne Barr, and Kevin Sorbo, to name a few, most people would go, “Who?” at the mere mention of these names.
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I digress. I have this friend who was never really interested in any celebrities in general. I don’t think he’s ever been a fan of any movie star, TV personality, athlete, or influencer in the same manner most of us do. I always thought he was just jealous and bitter because these people are rich and popular; that he’s such a sad being.
As I got older, I was starting to somehow get him. Not totally—but somewhat.
In the past few years, I have seen so many of my well-loved celebrities fall from grace. I realized that they were not who I thought they were.
Will Smith is one—always liked this guy, until he slapped the bejesus out of Chris Rock during an Oscars monologue/presentation in 2022. I used to love Ellen DeGeneres so much and never missed a show. I thought she was genuinely nice and funny. Why wouldn’t she be when her tagline was: “Be kind to one another”? Until it was exposed that she's just downright mean and manipulative in real life.
I did mention before that I had a crush on Jimmy Fallon until former staffers of ‘The Tonight Show’ exposed his erratic behavior on set.
Don’t get me started on Oprah Winfrey. Her and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s People’s Fund of Maui initiative faced so much backlash when they had the gall to ask the public to fund the rest of the program instead of just donating their own money.
Then there’s Tom Hanks, the Mr. Nice Guy in almost every list there is until he was rumored to be on Epstein’s list as well. Dave Grohl is another one, always touted as a genuinely nice guy—the rocker who does a lot of charity work — until the recent news of him having a baby outside marriage came out.
Of course, no one ever said that celebrities are perfect people, but a fan would always envision that they are close enough to being one. Over time, something comes up that would make us realize that they are regular, flawed people like you and me, capable of indiscretion. We become disillusioned because in reality, there’s so little left of them to be desired.
I am also not saying that they shouldn’t stand up for something. Having a view and an ideology is everyone's absolute right. But sometimes, to seemingly force their beliefs and values to their fans as if they are not capable of critical thinking for themselves is another thing. These days, their opinions are more like virtue signaling. Ricky Gervais made it a joke, but it’s true that these celebrities are not in the position to lecture the public.
Days leading to November 5, I
came across the two-minute video of some of Marvel’s Avengers cast which includes Robert
Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, Chris Evans, Danai
Gurira, and Paul Bettany coming out to support Harris. And while by all
accounts, I am an MCU superfan, I honestly felt a twinge of cringe seeing them
improvise their famous catchphrases to encourage people to vote for Kamala.
After seeing that video, I
finally understood what they meant when they said, “Never meet your heroes,
they’ll surely disappoint.”
This is not to say I am pro-Trump, as I’m talking about celebrities supporting either side, but because Kamala’s superstar friends were more visible and had more platforms, it made me realize how so entitled of them to think that a regular working-class American would just set aside the more important things that matter to them and let them dictate who to vote for.
These celebrities are so out of touch with reality. Maybe because they will never be bothered about skyrocketing prices of groceries, gas, and mortgages. They will always have different problems than most people deal with day in and day out.
Even if we don't talk about celebrity politics, it’s clear that celebrity influence is not as powerful a persuasion tool as it was. More and more people do not take their word on social and global issues, culture, and media anymore. If anything, a celebrity’s activism and advocacies sometimes turn people off. When I stop and think it through, that is how it should be.
In the bigger scheme of things, no one cares about what these often tone-deaf elitists think. We have already established that they are not perfect, so no, they are not the barometer for what’s right and moral. After all, the main reason they exist in our lives is for our entertainment.
