Ariana Grande, Olivia Munn and the Butthurt Celebs Waging War on the ‘Blogs’
In a late April bout of lack of self-awareness, a string of celebrities have come out this week against what they’ve perceived as unfair or overly critical media coverage. I will give celebrities a lot—money that they don’t need, complimentary coverage that they probably don’t read, and endless amounts of my own time and energy. But even I have to draw a line, and I’m drawing it at pity. No, Justin Bieber, I don’t feel bad for you because someone on TV said that your lip-syncing was bad. It was bad! Get over it.
Our current celebrity ecosystem features a largely symbiotic relationship between celebrities and the journalists and TV personalities who cover and opine on their comings and goings. And while celebrities need press, and the press needs celebrities, there’s no illusion of equivalence between, say, Kendall Jenner and someone who gets paid by the hour to blog about Calabasas. This week’s celebrity call-outs are notable because of this flagrant power imbalance—rich, influential people using social media to criticize music journalists and bloggers—as well as the relative innocuousness of the coverage that they’re clutching their pearls over.
As everyone who’s currently wasting their short life on it knows, the internet can be a vile place. Some celebrity coverage is truly disgusting. In the past, The Daily Beast has felt it appropriate to single out individual outlets, whether it’s TMZ going to bat for allegedly abusive men or the Daily Mail publishing cringe-y copy that reduces famous women to their cleavage. Anyone, even an A-lister, has the right to voice their opinion if they feel that they’re being unfairly treated, or even bullied. But critical coverage isn’t playing dirty, and feeling hurt isn’t a great excuse for losing your shit at individuals who are just trying to do their jobs.
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