Is our era of celebrity worship coming to an end?
Joe Jonas, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Oprah and The Rock are in a new dawn of cancel culture
If you try and comment on the Instagram video of Oprah and The Rock announcing their ‘People’s Fund of Maui’ you’ll find that you’re not able to, due to the comments being turned off.
Knowing the backlash they faced for attempting to crowd fund donations for the Maui wildfires, the video has a completely different tone to it.
Listening to Oprah explain how she was inspired by Dolly Parton donating to her community that she reached out to The Rock, just feels like something you don’t want to say out loud when your net worth is so easily Googled.
If you’re a billionaire who spends half their time living in your 1000 acre property on an island that’s been devastated by wild fires, why would it take Dolly Parton to inspire you to donate? This is your community, these are your neighbours.
Celebrities appeal for charity donations all the time from the general public, so why did people take such offence to Oprah and The Rock?
My theory is that the majority of the world will never visit Maui, let alone Hawaii, despite it being their bucket list holiday destination. The result is this almost mythical place that you can only dream of visiting.
Then you hear of these horrific fires, but they seem so faraway from your reality and let’s be honest, they just get added to the ever-growing list of climate change induced natural disasters.
It’s not that you don’t care, but with the US setting a new record for the most natural disasters in one year (with 4 months still to go), you’ve got your own metaphorical fires to deal with.
So when you have your mid-day Instagram scroll and see two celebrities with limitless money and resources asking you to donate to the beautiful island you’ve never and probably will never visit, it pisses you off.
You can’t even afford branded butter, why is it your responsibility to salvage an island that billionaires use as their personal holiday resort?
Then there’s Joe Jonas, whose divorce PR narrative - which would normally have been lapped up - has now had the curtain well and truly lifted on it.
His split with Sophie Turner was taking the usual misogynistic media route. The TMZ scoop, the sources commenting on Sophie’s ‘partying’ and neglectful parenting. ‘Leaked’ paparazzi shots of Joe being the doting dad with his chidren.
Except this time, the public refused to buy it.
We aren’t the same people that used to buy Heat magazine every week. Thanks to TikTok and a widening of the inner circle, the general public are more aware than ever of the workings of the celebrity machine.
They know that Backgrid photos mean a celeb called the paps on themselves and usually had them edited prior to release as well. They know the hidden meanings behind divorce announcements thanks to PR experts and lawyers sharing their insider knowledge on their personal TikTok accounts. They know what a staged relationship looks like and they know when someone is trying to control the narrative.
When even E! News post an video in support of the Queen of the North, you know you’ve lost your case.
Finally, as the fallen pedestals build up around us, we have Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis who are as ignorant as they are stupid.
After their former co-star Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life for the rape of two women (4 women filed), the letters this married couple sent to the judge to appeal for leniency on his sentence were leaked.
It’s a beyond stupid PR move for two actors who have little relevancy these days, but on a human level it’s so morally wrong and naturally everyone including comedian Kathy Griffiths and actor Christina Ricci are disavowing them for it.
Which is kind of ironic considering that’s what they should have done with Masterson in the first place.
Personally, I think this celebrity downfall was inevitable once social media began but covid and life post ‘vid have speed balled it.
We know these are just normal people - sometimes with exceptional talents - but more often than not a lot of teams choreographing, staging, styling and planning their every move.
I think it’s lazy to call it cancel culture. Rather holding one time gods up to the same societal standards that are expected of us.
Love this, the curtain has definitely slipped and people are getting much wiser in some respects. I think in COVID it kind of started with that woeful "Imagine" video thing some celebs started where everyone was like wtf.
Well-said!