false idols
Six years ago, the world was hit by Covid-19. Six years on, it feels like a weird memory to some. For others it’s never really left. At the beginning, there was a sickly novelty to it: some people took up baking bread, some worked out, I bought a brown tracksuit that my fiancé has not stopped talking about how ugly it was six years later. Remember the quizzes? Why were we all so suddenly obsessed with quizzing each other after work?
As the death toll rose, the novelty wore off. Pictures of MPs partying while people died came out. Suddenly people stopped believing scientists and vaccines became the latest talking point. Masks became a political statement.
I noticed a shift in society’s attitude towards celebrities. As people risked their health to attend a vigil for Sarah Everard, or protest with BLM, we looked at the people who we had put on pedestals and decided to kick the legs. While normal people were getting furloughed, fired, or forced to work while getting spat at, celebrities recorded themselves singing “Imagine” in their multi-million pound homes to reassure us that we were all in it together. What a time! Honestly, I would love to see the group chat of that being organised vs the immediate messages after the public reception.
Shortly after the Imagine incident, Kim Kardashian flew out hordes of people to a private island to celebrate her 40th birthday during the LA lockdown. A month later Kendall Jenner hosted a party in a club with all of pop-culture’s most current obsessions dressed up and wait staff blinking in the background with just a mask on, catering to them all. There were even signs asking people not to post pictures, but as they got drunk, Instagram Stories were posted. Our very own Rita Ora threw a party during lockdown. From our homes we watched how it was one rule for them, one rule for us.
Celebrity culture has always been interesting to me. I love pop culture - sorry! I absorb it all like a weird little sponge, and each fact pushes out actual knowledge from my brain. The Brooklyn Beckham wedding drama? That has replaced any knowledge of simple maths from my head. I know so many obscure facts about celebrities it’s actually shocking. I don’t know where they’ve come from, but I know them. I know that Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas wet herself on stage once. What did that fact replace? Best not to think about it too much.
It seemed though, six years ago, we all had decided that celebrities were weird. Yet now in 2026, headlines are made when Timothée Chalamet simply thanks his girlfriend (Kylie Jenner) in an acceptance speech, not even by name! How did we get here? Now, there is a demand from the public for celebrities to be politically correct, relatable, a “girl’s-girl”. A decade ago, celebrities would deny any plastic surgery rumours, now Kylie Jenner is commenting her exact boob job surgery on TikTok. This comment did more for her PR on the internet than any positive reviews of her makeup line.
If celebrities don’t speak out on political issues, they are part of the problem. “Silence is violence”. If they do, they better make sure they are on the correct side. And they have to denounce their fellow peers if they are not. Sydney Sweeney - I mean, where to begin. She did a jeans campaign (can I also just say, the actual ad is objectively bad - the jeans looked bad), then refused to acknowledge how people were interpreting the campaign as support for eugenics, then had to issue a statement saying: “I’m not a political person. I’m in the arts. I’m not here to speak on politics. That’s not an area I’ve ever even imagined getting into. It’s not why I became who I am. I became an actor because I like to tell stories, but I don’t believe in hate in any form. I believe we should all love each other and have respect and understanding for one another.” She then released a lingerie line, after releasing soaps made of her own bathwater, and is now in hot water after throwing some bras at the Hollywood sign without permission. Alrighty then.
Leonardo DiCaprio, known for his “environmental activism”, attended Jeff Bezos’s wedding in Venice. TBD if he arrived via private jet.
Celebrities have always needed to be liked. It helps them sell whatever they are selling to us: their music, their film, their memoir. But there was a discernible distance. They were celebrities. We knew they weren’t like us. They didn’t need to be! And then the internet happened. And normal people, like you and I, could press record on our front cameras and go viral. We could post OOTDs and gain hundreds of thousands of followers. We could go makeup free, and get praised for showing real skin. We could wear a bikini on the beach and become the face of body positivity. Suddenly, people were looking at what influencers were wearing, using for makeup, spritzing perfume, and that was being bought. Celebrities suddenly seemed stuffy: it was obvious when teams were running their socials. Media training was not charming - we wanted the real moments: the curse words in the Oscar speech, the Adele dressed up for carnival pictures (which she has since admitted that her team took down and took her socials passwords afterwards).
There’s a rise of celebrities using podcasts to gain public favour. Call Her Daddy, Hot Ones, Chicken Shop Date, all are used as part of PR now. We get to see our favourite celebrities chat to Alex Cooper about their favourite sex positions, yelp in pain, mouth full of hot sauce, while not being able to answer a question on their favourite high school teacher by Sean Evans or attempt to charm Amelia in a Morleys. Celebrities - they’re just like us!
Like clockwork, after one of these videos go live, comments flood in. Authentic is a word thrown about so much it’s meaningless. People also seem to completely misunderstand / underestimate what goes into a show like that. Every question is pre-approved. I’m not joking. Every single question will have been sent to the celebrity’s team for approval. The celebrity will be briefed on how to answer. In some cases, there may have even been an entire script written up - a handy how-to guide on how to come across surprised and gracious. The team would have maybe left out a detail on the most ‘intriguing question’ for a more genuine facial expression, but nothing gets published without a thumbs up. It’s no longer about your film, it’s about what your favourite snack is. And don’t say something like caviar - that’s out of touch! And don’t fall into the trap of ‘I eat pizza everyday’ - we know you don’t Bella Hadid. You’re not even eating any of the chicken in front of you in the interview. It’s a minefield. Co-op salt and vinegar crisps are a great choice, IMO.
Michael Cera made a great point when he was on Hot Ones. He spoke about the expectation of fun celebrities now have. More and more, clips go viral of interviewers playing ‘fun’ games at a press junket! Asking wacky questions! And if you don’t go along with it - you’re the arsehole. Case in point: J-Lo was recently declared a bitch because she wasn’t nice to the Glambot guy at the Golden Globes. Sidenote; why the hell is the Glambot so popular? I don’t get it! Also, I can’t watch another clip of Jimmy Fallon pretending to laugh at the most banal story.
I want more performance reviews for celebrities. Based on the actual thing they are meant to be good at - you know, the work they get paid millions of pounds to do? I don’t care what your morning routine is, why can you only make music for TikTok? And if you aren’t talented, we the people should just fire you. You are bad at acting, you are fired. If you are bad at singing, wrap it up. If you can not write? You must return the multi-million pound advance and just give it to someone who can. Normal people get fired if we don’t hit OKRs - why don’t celebrities?
By reducing the power we give celebrities, we reduce their money. And if recent events have taught us anything: people who have too much money, have too much power. And instead of solving world hunger, they traffic underage children. Remember when the colour of celebrity toilet paper was the biggest news? Bring back celebrities who want to spend their money cloning their pets.
In my dream world, celebrities would not have social media. No press junkets of them holding a kitten. Architectural Digest home tours are the only thing that can survive because some of these people have just such awful taste it’s like a treat. Wall-to-wall carpet in the bathroom? That’s when divorce proceedings should have begun. The only time celebrities are allowed to make statements is to give us gossip. Remember Wagatha Christie? God, that was thrilling. Bring back a town crier and get them to announce a new album, film, or book. If it’s bad, we put the celebrity in stocks. Jesters are employees. We need to remind them we are the employers.
