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DIVESTING OF CELEBRITY
I need u 2 grasp how celebrity culture gave rise 2 both Obama&Trump. The merger of Hollywood & Washington has been yrs in the making, politics& ntertainment. Celebrity will be the death of this nation. I don't give a fuck about no- https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/16/politics/joe-biden-inauguration-playlist/index.html
I need u 2 grasp how celebrity culture gave rise 2 both Obama&Trump. The merger of Hollywood & Washington has been yrs in the making, politics& ntertainment. Celebrity will be the death of this nation. I don't give a fuck about no- https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/16/politics/joe-biden-inauguration-playlist/index.html
damn playlist or who your favorite artists are. Never forget Obama rose on the endorsement of a talk show queen (Oprah) & Trump took the Obama blueprint & Trump's status as a reality show king, injected it w/steroids & hijacked the Republican Party. All of this started w/the-
power of celebrity in the collective American imagination. Think Kennedys & Camelot 3.0. This shit has got to stop. Celebrities can barely run their own fucked up lives & to give them this much power over paths to political power is insane. Celebrity functions in America like-
the monarchy does in Great Britain where you have one family's vanity subsidized by an entire nation & in past years, entire nations all over the globe. Well, in American we do it a little different, but w/the same outcome. We create celebrities through an American Idol type-
popularity contest. We establish celebrity as an altar to worship at. That celebrity in turn uses its influence to replicate itself & strengthen its club. These people survive & thrive off of the attention fuel we give them. Enough. It is high time Americans divest of celebrity.
Whether its a fucked up family whose matriarch fucks her son's best friend & then sells that dysfunction as fodder 4 a talk show (Jada&Will) or whether it's a talk show queen who scales the ladder to fame in this country by coddling white people & lecturing black people (Oprah)
or whether it's a MAGA hat donning rapper whose rise to fame & fortune was built on black people only 4 those people to be discarded to curry the favor of a racist coddling politician (Kanye). Those 67 references black rappers made in their songs to Trump over the years were-
early indications of how celebrity embraces celebrirty to catapult itself into the halls power. This shit has got to stop. This starts by snatching their microphone & reducing the impact of celebrity in our collective imagination. Just b/c U a good rapper, can sing or act doesnt-
mean we need 2 hear a damn thing about yo uniformed views re: how this country should be ran. Although only referring 2 actors, Kurt Russell said it best & I will extend his comments 2 all celebrity who "shouldnt get involved in politics b/c were nothing more than court jesters"
Comprehending the power of celebrity, ErykahBaduh is also very careful not 2 superimpose her views on electorates. In numerous interviews, she bends over backwards to say, "I'm not here 2 tell people what 2 think." Politicians use their lives as powerbrokers 2 enrich themselves &
access celebrity. This is how the Obamas could start out in politics wearing holey shoes & J.Crew outfits but now afford Versace & Balenciaga. Politics gave them that life. More importantly, WE GAVE THEM THAT LIFE. & what did we get in return for it? Shit. This is how politics &
celebrity in America functions like royalty in Great Britain. In both cases, the people at the bottom of society give an elite group of people a life of celebrity, fame & fortune. This shit is textbook. W/o politics, the Obamas would still be languishing in Chicago w/Michelle-
working long hours as the breadwinner in an 2BR apartment & low-income household w/ 2 children while Barry was barely employed as a part-time/adjunct professor trying to smooth talk himself into politics in the black community by joining a black church & marrying a black wife.
Meanwhile, a man who really did do a lot for black people, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, had to have his good name destroyed for a man, who really didn't do shit for black people, to rise. Any Negro thinking Obama did more for black people than Rev. Wright is a damn fool.
Perhaps nowhere is the function of celebrity in this society more cemented & illuminated than how Barack Obama used Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright & Trinity United Church of Christ to get a foothold in the black community & then threw them away when good white folks came calling.
Read dat back. Herein lies the vacuous nature of celebrity of all ilk. It will always use you up & throw you away. This has been happening to Negroes for decades in this country. Politicians enter our pulpits come election season, make a million promises, break all of them & U-
don't see them again until election time...much like actors, singers & rappers who promote their movies & albums during release time & then retreat to their mansions once the checks have been cut. This vicious cycle chews people up & spits them out. And while all of these people-
are using us as the shoes they wear 2 better lives we are left w/the same old fucked up lives. I'm appealing to your intellect 2 recognize the madness of all this. Hear me. Divest of celebrity now. Doing so will ensure we are no longer the footstools to wealth we don't enjoy.
A good read regarding my recent post "Divesting of Celebrity." https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/14/entertainment/pop-culture-politics-plc/index.html
