People are consumed by celebrities. Their names are thrown on billboards and scattered within commercials. Hardly anyone doesn’t know the names “Taylor Swift” or “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.” They are so ingrained in our lives.
However, this has proved to be an issue. People have put celebrities on pedestals. They have become idols and obsessions with followings almost like cults.
For instance, Taylor Swift.
Swift has been very successful in the music industry and has touched many people with her lyrics. This has led to a huge fanbase that calls themselves “Swifties.”
To Swifties, Swift can do no wrong. There has even been Taylor Swift themed worship services, taking celebrity worship to a whole new level. She has gone through controversy in recent years, but they will not allow that she could be the problem.
For instance, Swift has the highest gas emissions out of any celebrity worldwide. This is a major problem, and one that cannot be overlooked, especially for someone who has previously supported global change publicly.
Reporter Chris Panella wrote an article lightly criticizing the Era’s Tour. The article got severe backlash from Swifties, including death threats and slurs sent to his inbox. The original article did not deserve the response it got. This highlights the danger of celebrity worship, causing people to defend their idols at all costs.
Kylie Jenner also showed us the issue with celebrity worship during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During this pandemic, we were all under strict lockdown rules. Many celebrities, encouraged by healthcare workers, posted on their social media asking people to listen to these rules. Jenner was among them.
She urged people to stay home and told them that nobody was immune to the virus. Unfortunately, she decided she was. She visited her friend during quarantine, defying the guidelines she previously supported.
Other celebrities such as Tom Brady, Josh Brolin and Madonna also decided they were above COVID rules.
This told people that they did not need to follow the rules. The celebrities weren’t, so why should they? These celebrities are now negative role models, encouraging people to ignore the safety guidelines.
Justin Bieber is another example. He has always had a big fanbase. They call themselves “Beliebers.”
Bieber has had his fair share of scandal. He has had drug and DUI charges. He also has been accused of many accounts of assault and violence. He has posted extremely offensive racist comments and an insensitive comment about Anne Frank.
His fans have supported him throughout all of this scandal, brushing it off because his music touched them. And since his music is so good, he must be.
While he has reinvented his image in recent years, it does not change the fact that he is not a person to be idolizing. If we can excuse that behavior in him because he’s famous, what does that mean for everyone else?
Another danger of celebrity idols is comparison.
Many people are insecure and a large part of that is due to social media. We all play the comparison game. She’s got this or he’s got that. We wish we could be more like him or look more like her. This is hard enough without looking at celebrities and their seemingly perfect lives, and most of it is fake. The picture is filtered and edited. The celebrity has had extensive plastic surgery to look the way they do. They show the glamorous and leave out the in between.
All of a sudden, nothing you have is enough. Your life will never be that perfect, so you keep scrolling, scrolling and scrolling living through their posts and stories.
Celebrity worship is wrong. Everyone makes mistakes. Nobody is above doing so, despite the number of followers they have. Putting these people on a pedestal is putting them where they do not belong.
