Celebrities. We love them, we hate them, we love to hate them. I realize that more often than not, we as a society either idolize celebrities or completely trash on them. We don’t treat a lot of them with the respect they deserve. We rarely ever hold them accountable for their actions, and when we do it’s a short amount of time till we go back to supporting them again. No matter how awful or terrible their actions are, as long as we like them, all is forgiven. Who cares if they groomed that child? (Eww…R. Kelly!) Who cares if they killed someone? (OJ…so guilty!) We don’t see them for their many flaws like you and me, we see them as something higher than us. We also feel oddly entitled to them. If they do something we don’t like, such as a change in fashion or style (Doga Cat!), we can completely trash and criticize them. If they need a break from their career (Tom Holland come back!), we get mad and complain about it. We treat their lives as our personal source of entertainment because, at the end of the day, we don’t see them as human.
We tend to treat female celebrities like objects that are our personal eye candy to faun over and objectify (love you Margot Robbie), all because one is above average looking or another is below average looking. We don’t treat them like living, breathing humans. While the men, on the other hand, don’t have to look jaw-dropping or breathtaking (talking to you Benedict Cumberbatch!).
If you yourself are a celebrity, don’t worry if you do something morally wrong or illegal, just as long as you have a big enough fan base that is obsessed and delusional enough, they’ll come up with a defense for you and even try to prove the haters wrong (it’s okay Kanye). Even if it’s something that directly contradicts what you claim you believe in, it’s okay. Some will try to prove that you didn’t rape someone or have a repeated history of sexual assault (Divorce Kenneth Petty!). They’ll prove that you aren’t racist or have committed a hate crime. They’ll prove that you don’t beat your partner or past partners.
In conclusion, we don’t really treat celebrities with respect. We either treat them like trash or treat them like some form of higher being, which none of them deserve. They are not our friends, they are not our enemies. They are people who are popular and richer, and that’s IT.
