Celebrities are not your friends

Andre Arcilla • November 21, 2024

It’s important to know that celebrities are their own people and that the screen doesn’t automatically connect you to them.

Earlier this year, pop star Chappell Roan made a pair of Tik Tok videos calling out some of her fans for invasive behavior. Asking fans if they would “yell out a car window” at a random lady and denouncing the behavior she has been receiving as her stardom rapidly rose this year.

Though she has gained some support for her callout of fan behavior, Roan has also gained some backlash with critics saying that those invasive interactions come with the job of being a famous musician. However, no one deserves to have to get security because of a stalker who visited her family’s home and hotel room.

We as fans don’t intimately know who their favorite celebrities in their private lives are, celebrities are not your friends. We are not entitled to knowing everything about them and we should not pretend that we do know everything about them. Celebrities are people and just because they’re in the public eye does not mean it is okay for people to stalk and harass them. To act like those are okay things to do is quite frankly weird and creepy.

Due to social media, celebrities are much more accessible to the public than before. Fans no longer need to wait for an interview, a televised statement or a magazine article to hear from their favorite celebrities. Information about celebrities has become so much easier to obtain even if that information is invasive. This October, singer and former One Direction member Liam Payne died in Argentina and the flight that flew his body back to the United Kingdom for his funeral became the most watched plane in the world.

It’s not that looking up to celebrities or finding their story and their work inspiring is bad. I have my own fair share of celebrities and artists that I admire and look up to. The issue is acting like we as fans are intimately acquainted with these figures and that we are entitled to their time.

Celebrities are more present in our lives. They’re no longer just in interviews but they’re making posts in the same channels that we interact with our friends online on. Remember that just because you watch someone online, read their interviews and listen to their music that does not mean that you know them and they are not your friend.

About the Contributors

Andre Arcilla, Digital Media Editor-in-Chief

Andre Arcilla is this year’s Digital Media Editor-in-Chief. This is his second and final year on staff. His goal on staff is to make sure there’s more videos on The Pearl Post site and social media and to further improve his writing skills. At school, he’s the president of the Art Club. During his free time, he enjoys video editing, listening to lots of music, drawing, and playing video games with his friends. He hopes to keep finding new and creative ways to express himself and tell stories.

Kristin Intal, Visual Editor

Kristin Intal is a senior and in her second year on staff. As the Visual Editor, she plans to support other staff members through photography, art and editing skills. Outside of class, she strives to participate in a variety of activities, such as martial arts and volunteering.