Monday, April 27, 2020
Thank you, celebrities
Just had to share this.
I must admit, I thought the same thing. Any time celebrities try to come off as "just regular folks"it always feels forced and disingenuous. That said, if somebody stays home instead of protesting because Ellen said they should stay home then thumbs up to Ellen. The thing is, most of us don't need to be told by Ellen or other celebrities that this pandemic is real and we need to protect ourselves. We also are smart enough not to drink Lysol because the president of the United States said it might cure COVID-19. But for those that do -- thank you celebrities.
Celebs are a needy bunch. I wish the media would do more stories on all the billionaires who richly benefited from the huge business and personal tax breaks. Stories about how they are showing their gratitude by individually contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to nonprofits to help those less fortunate, adversely affected by the economic impact of COVID-19. What, there aren't any? Blow me away! Instead, I don't know how many stories I've seen of people waiting in car lines for five hours at food banks who say, "I'd never thought this would happen to me."
ReplyDeleteI'd said shame, shame, but those folks don't have feelings for anyone or anything but themselves. Celebrities aren't far behind them.
I suppose the celebrities are just trying to "do their part."
DeleteThe ones that bother me are the politicians who help set the social distancing policy, but then ignore it when they feel like it, such as NYC Mayor di Blasio and his wife who jogged through a Brooklyn Park when they have their own damn park at Gracie Mansion.
My biggest celebrity coronavirus celebrity pet peeve is the musicians who try to sing/perform into their phones or their zoom.
DeleteThey tried it this morning with some kid on GOOD MORNING AMERICA and it bombed.
If the artist doesn't have the necessary sound equipment at home then just skip it I say....
Piers Morgan made a list of Cov-idiots.
ReplyDeleteMany are from Hollywood.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8167509/PIERS-MORGAN-20-Cov-idiots-far.html
Brutal. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteDifferent topic - Is Ellen getting too much hate? Or rather, does she deserve all the hate?
There's a covid 19 PSA on TV with an uncredited voice I'm sure is Allison Janney.
ReplyDeleteSome celebrities are getting their comeuppance served.
ReplyDeleteEvangeline Lilly dropped From Co-Lead of 'Ant-Man 3'
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/marvel-reportedly-drops-evangeline-lilly-from-co-lead-of-ant-man-3-amid-controversial-coronavirus-comments.html/
I wonder if the reason we don't hear from Jen From Jersey anymore is she listened to Trump and then chowed down on some Tide pods.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, some people out there believe a celebrity telling them if they inject themselves with disinfectants or bleach, they'll cure themselves of the virus . . . and then that same celebrity has to insist he was just being sarcastic.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to run down celebrities for their need for attention. Wait...I just made lunch and have to get a pic up on Instagram while it's hot. And my cat just fell over, so I need to get that on Facebook as soon as I can.
ReplyDeleteNot that I want to defend celebrities, but my feeling is that their audience is the young and impressionable people, many of whom seem to not take the social distancing guidelines serious. While the fact that Kim Kardashian has 160 million followers on Instagram makes me question the future of the human race, that fact also highlights just how many people look up to celebrities. So while making fun of them is fun, they are actually doing some good with their PSA videos.
ReplyDeleteThat was some of the most brilliant satire I've seen in quite a while. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteAs for celebrities' influence, the overwhelming majority of celebrities said, vote for Hillary and not Trump. Look how well that turned out.
M.B.
Listening to celebrities might be the only voice other than Fox news that people who might be swayed will listen to. Thousands crowded ritzy Newport Beach this past weekend. Maybe if they had listened to Ellen they would have stayed safe at home. The more voices who urge caution that people hear, the odds are eventually the message will seep though. People might listen to Joe Hollywood where they won't Joe Sixpack.
ReplyDeleteThat article in the Hollywood Reporter (?) about Ellen being a total bitch in the way she treats her staff and the "little people" reminds me that celebrities are assholes too. So yeah, fuck those guys.
ReplyDeleteBack during the Iraq war there would be reports of casualties with the number of dead and wounded being reported. But I was finding it frustrating that there was no reporting on what was meant by “wounded”. Were we talking about John Wayne “it’s just a flesh wound” wounds or something more serious? Then, there was a news article about a person who called in to a radio show. She said she was an entertainer and had been asked to visit some of the wounded. She said that she had witnessed a large number of guys who had amputations and other very serious wounds and how heartbreaking it was. The radio show guy correctly identified the caller as being Cher, and they talked a bit about what was going on in the hospitals.
ReplyDeleteThe story got a lot of play at the time and suddenly there was more interest in the wounded service people. President Bush had not visited the wounded until then, but suddenly had photo ops of him doing so. And it was only then that stories started to come out regarding why so many troops were losing limbs in combat. It was found that the reason was inadequately armored vehicles getting blown up by IEDs. And then there was a call to correct this inadequacy. And I wondered why it took Cher to get this story out.
So now we have lots of stories of coronavirus and the deaths associated with it and the large number of hospitalizations. But nothing about what happens to the people who were hospitalized but came out of it alive. Are they all better and able to just go on with their lives or
Do they face long recoveries and perhaps permanent lung and other organ damage? Maybe Cher can let us know.
The celebrities provided us with strength and guidance during these trying times? Fuuuuck me! If I ever need guidance from a celebrity you can just take me into the woods and shoot me.
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm …
ReplyDeleteActually, there were nearly three million more people voting for Hillary than for Trump.
They just weren't living in the correct states.
You know … that Electoral College thingy that I've been grousing about most of my adult life …
… the selfsame thingy that Mr. Trump still can use to prop open the back door for another term …
Sorry.
Had to mention that yet again.
We can get into mindless celebrity hatred another time …
There is a way to get rid of the EC - it's called an amendment. Good luck getting 3/4 of all states to ratify. It would hurt less populated states who have SOME say on who should be President with the EC.
DeleteWhile this is funny and no doubt some of these celebs are tone deaf. But I think they are in the minority. There are far worse Trump supporters out there. Quite a few celebs including athletes are doing good things whether it is contributing money,delivering for food, or paying for it. Those businesses that are accepting money from the government who don't deserve it are the true assholes.
ReplyDeleteSlightly off topic, Ken, but this bit of trivia was mentioned on the Me-TV website - thought perhaps you or a colleague might have the answer to this! All the best.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.metv.com/stories/did-m-a-s-h-sneak-this-photo-of-frank-burns-mom-into-the-final-season-as-a-subtle-tribute
Why should you* have a right to express an opinion, and not a celebrity? And should your opinion be taken any more seriously than, say, Jane Fonda's or Dennis Miller's just because they're (presumably) than you are?
ReplyDeleteOr: if you had a platform, wouldn't/don't you take advantage of it to push your agendas?
Then it's our duty to take all the available information and see what of it resonates.
* the naysayers, not Ken
I will defend two celebrities in this thread...First off, Neil Sedaka has been killing it on Facebook..doing mini concerts a day..I think he's been at this for three weeks now. I''m no NS fan but the guy still has panache in performing.
ReplyDeleteThe second one I will defend is Bill Engvall. The guy walks on a treadmill while chatting with fans on Facebook. Humble, funny and genuine..he does this three times a week and walks for about 30 minutes....
Ellen deserves MORE hate. Everything I've read/heard suggests she's truly terrible.
ReplyDeleteWanna talk tone-deaf?
ReplyDeleteHere's how Sean Hannity is going to the aid of first responders:
He's buying Yankee tickets to give them (well into the hundreds).
You know, for whenever they start playing again.
If Sean Hannity saw a man crawling in the desert, who hadn't had any water for days - he'd offer him a peanut-butter sandwich.
Let's not forget, Donald trump was/is a celebrity Check out his IMDB. Janice B.
ReplyDelete@iamr4man: This article answers some of your questions. It's truly a horrifying read. (Sorry if this is too off topic, Ken.)
ReplyDeletehttps://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/we-still-dont-know-how-the-coronavirus-is-killing-us.html
It's a clever, well-produced video, and its message is good and legitimate. But it should also be said that since the time of war bond drives in the 1940s to Bob Hope's USO shows to telethons fronted by Jerry Lewis and Dennis James to the game show "Concentration" doing annual Christmas shows for CARE to George Harrison's concert for Bangladesh to Live Aid to Farm Aid to Comic Relief to Stand Up to Cancer to Red Nose Day to Chelsea Handler soliciting funds for medical aid for families at the U.S.-Mexico border to Lady Gaga's recent online all-star musical tribute to medical workers that aired on ABC, CBS, and NBC, entertainers have a long and noble history of giving during times of hardship. And that should be remembered.
ReplyDeleteMr. Aparicio:
ReplyDeleteLet me try to explain this in terms simple enough that I understand them:
States are not sentient individuals.
They are territories in which many different people reside.
In the "smaller" states to which you refer, many people reside who are NOT part of the plurality of the population.
Under The EC, these people are effectively denied their franchise, because of "Winner Take All".
Actually, this is the complaint that right-wingers in New York and California have been making for years - that the plurality of Democrats denies them their franchise.
Even the small states which are dominated by one party or the other still have sizable constituencies in those states that vote the other way; if you doubt this, just check out the state-by-state vote totals - far from unanimity.
Those three "battleground" states that Mr. Trump carried could easily have gone the other way - and in the previous two elections, they did.
The simple fact that "battlefield states" exist invalidates the whole Electoral College system.
The EC's sole contribution to our nation is the practice of gerrymandering - which both major parties have gaming the system with for as long as there's been a system.
… and THAT'S why we'll never be rid of it constitutionally - because the existing parties can use it to nickel-and-dime us all to death.
The only way to possibly deal with this?
The citizens - you and me and everyone we know - have to learn the facts - and the truth - about this cockamamie system.
Somehow, I don't see that as happening any time soon.
It's like the Infield Fly Rule - or Daylight Saving Time - or Do Not Remove This Tag Under Penalty Of Law - etc.
We're used to it.
God Help Us.