issue #4: why do we listen to celebrities?
celebrities have been having some crazy takes this week
Hey everyone,
We are living in a precarious time. I’ve been feeling very kinda meh about celebrities, in general, this week and not very keen to write about them.
It has been insane to see in real-time how biased the media and the Western world are against the plight of the Palestinian people and their suffering. But we know this and it should not come as such a shock. It is still disheartening. As someone who comes from a country that struggled through apartheid, as someone with an interest in history and knowing how the Palestine people have suffered since 1948, it feels almost perplexing that people cannot even speak out against the injustices without being called anti-semitic. Why is it okay to decry the suffering and death of Israeli people but even the mention of the Palestinian people is immediately shut down?
Many many celebrities have made some wild claims this week. Jamie Lee Curtis shared a photograph of Palestinian children running from bombs and claimed it was Israeli children. When everyone including the photographer called out her mistake, she deleted the picture. In the same way, Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp has shared that he fears for his life because of the attacks, because he is Jewish. Even though he lives in the US and nowhere near the Gaza Strip.
We can say that these are the opinions of these specific celebrities and they have a right to it, which they do. Many celebrities simply shared images and posts on Instagram because they saw everyone else doing it or because of limited information. But a big question has been, why do we care what they have to say? And the simple answer is that celebrities hold a lot of influence in today’s society. They have the following and the power to affect public opinion and perpetuate false truths. For many people, the content shared by celebrities is the only news they are going to read. They won’t feel the need to seek out different news sources. Celebrities are also just human and are not experts on every subject, but the sad thing is that they don’t realise that their place in society holds a lot of weight.
I try not to put celebrities on pedestals because as I said they’re human, they are going to falter, and they are going to let you down. And many times they are limited by their own knowledge, what they have been taught and what their dominant media is telling them.
So maybe this is a cue for many of us to take everything that celebrities tell us about global issues with a pinch of salt, to educate ourselves and to also seek out further information. It should not be on them to educate us. This more than ever has shown me that.
Recs:
Film: Nightmare Alley
From the camera of Guillermo Del Toro is this compelling neo-noir, thriller that tells the story of a man who joins a travelling circus and becomes successful when he uses fortune telling to swindle rich people. I really enjoyed this, the narrative had me on the edge of my seat, and it had amazing performances by Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Colette and more. You can watch it on Disney+.
Here’s what you missed in the news:
Entertainment/pop culture
Always courting trouble, Doja Cat posted a photo of her wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a Neo-Nazi on it and honestly at this point she is redeemable.
Singer Sufjan Stevens dedicated his latest album Javelin to his late partner Evans Richardson IV who passed away in April at aged 43.
Series that have been renewed this week include: Castlevania Nocturne and Based on A True Story both for season 2.
Series that have been cancelled this week include: Welcome to Flatch, Vikings: Valhalla; and The Afterparty.
After the release of his latest album For All The Dogs, Drake has announced that he will be taking a break from music to focus on health issues.
New couple alert! Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper have been spotted together lately.
Paris Hilton's memoir is going to be made into a television series by A24 and produced by Dakota and Elle Fanning.
Ariana Grande’s ex-husband Dalton Gomez has been spotted getting cosy with actress Maika Monroe.
In the divorce saga of Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas, they have finally come to a custody agreement for their two children.
Carey Mulligan and her Mumford & Sons frontman husband Marcus Mumford have welcomed their third child.
The release of Amber Heard’s therapist records from her court case with ex-husband Johnny Depp (the release was paid for by Depp’s fans :/) revealed some disturbing news from the set of Aquaman 2. This includes info that Jason Momoa arrived to set drunk, tried to get Heard fired and more.
Jada Pinkett Smith is currently promoting her new book and she revealed that she and Will Smith have essentially been separated for seven years.
The BET Hip-Hop Awards took place on Tuesday and the big winners included Kendrick Lamar, Drake & 21 Savage and Lil Uzi Vert.
It’s the most popular show on streaming right now and a new Suits series is currently in development.
Veteran actor Michael Caine has announced that he is officially retiring at age 90.
Fashion & Beauty
New hairstyle? Kristen Stewart has launched the new grunge style, the ‘Mixie’ cut.
Okay everyone is now wearing baggy pants.
Tiktok’s latest aesthetic surgery is 'skin punch surgery’. This is what it is.
Lifetime It girl Chloe Sevigny was spotted in Mary Jane Birkenstocks and I kinda love it. It’s very Buccaneers/Toughies coded.
According to the experts, red is the colour for fall.
It is Halloween time so of course TikTok is embracing the pumpkin spice latte makeup trend.
Lifestyle
The next wellness travel trend is star bathing, which is all about spending time under the stars.
Apparently, the new dating trend is ‘quiet dumping’ which sounds terrible and everyone needs to be jailed.
Meta has released its new chatbots that look like Kendall Jenner and Tom Brady etc and they are creepy AF.
Talking about Meta, you can now edit Threads! Yay!
We need to talk about how TikTok is now making gossip public and I am scared.
Podcast Recap
In case you missed it, we spoke to director Samantha Nell and actress Kate Liquorish from the Netflix film You’re the Worst about the concept of ‘messy women’, sex positivity in South African film and getting older.
You can listen to our interview here or watch it on YouTube here.
Celeb Crush of the Week
I recently watched the trailer for the new Bob Marley movie, and I am really crushing on Kingsley Ben-Adir who plays the title role. He has been buzzy lately with playing the villain Gravik in Marvel’s Secret Invasion, an adorable Ken in Barbie and Malcolm X in One Night in Miami. He has range!
See you next week!
I could not agree more! I was born in 1974 in apartheid South Africa - how is the world sitting by and allowing further apartheids knowing how violent and brutal the South African one was.