I Know You Are, But What Am I?
Sometimes I feel bad for celebrities.
Sure, in many ways they have it better than the rest of us, although they will try to make claims they are just like you or I because they bleed, cry and put their pants on one leg at a time. But that's where the similarities end.
Because many celebs of a certain stature no longer have to worry about things like picking up their dry cleaning, supermarket shopping or even, in some cases, child rearing. When I think of what life must be like for them can't help but picture that scene from Annie when she first shows up at the mansion. Instantly she is bombarded with all of the people who are there, eager to wait on her hand and foot. She sees all of this and blurts out the obvious: "I think I'm gonna like it here." Annie's no fool. She knows the score.
But you and I both know celebrities are not regular people, despite their protests otherwise. No, celebrities are only like you or I when they choose to be. They wear regularity like most of us wear our favorite suit or dress, irregularly and only for special occasions. Regular people, for instance, can't pick and choose which things they should be held accountable for and which things they should not. If you get a speeding ticket, you appear at court, not on a reality show. If you get accused of a crime, you sit on trial and if fit, do the time, not write a coy book about if you did it, what might've happened. If you drop your child, authorities come in and take that child away from you for an uncertain amount of time. These are just a few examples, you know, completely off the top of my head.
But the bottom line is it's all a carefully orchestrated game. The rich and famous like to pretend they are like us when they really aren't because we, the public buy into the myth. We place them on unnecessary pedestals and hold them to unrealistic ideals. When they mess up we are shocked and appalled and perhaps even somewhat amused deep down, too. This is because every time a celeb messes up we are reminded that we really are all the same deep inside.
But lately it seems like celebrities are falling off of those pedestals more and more often and they aren't being pushed off, they're jumping. Last year Mel Gibson made one of the biggest, and most now infamous, mistakes of all when he got drunk and slurred racial... slurs, literally. After the fact Mel had no choice but to return, tail between his legs and take his beatings like a man. He might have not committed a crime that would go before the eyes of a traditional court, but his time is still being served in front of a jury of his peers and his public. It is still uncertain how long his sentence will be. If he makes another Lethal Weapon it might allow the public to forgive him though and he might get "out early" on good behavior. The only other way to get the public to ease up on you is to wait for the inevitable screw up of another star and the hope that they somehow screwed up more royally than you.
Enter Former Seinfeld star Michael Richards. As we now all know, he went all "Howard Dean" on African Americans during a comedy act a few weeks ago. The public was outraged. Richards was apologetic. Seinfeld was protective. And you just know Gibson was off somewhere, giving a deep sigh of relief.
But lucky for Richards, it wasn't long before another famous star went out and acted unprofessionally in the public eye. That was none other than a drunk Mr. Danny Devito who went on The View, a live show, and made fun of the president of the United States of America, complete with foul language. And although the definition of celebrity is the most questionable in the most recent offender, comedian Andy Dick came under fire this week for joking about the same exact thing that got Richards into trouble in the first place. Didn't these guys ever learn the golden rule of getting along with others? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say slurs that You Tube can find?
But what do all of these men have in common besides some bad decisions and some bad hair? They aren't upset about what they said, they're just pissed they got caught saying it. For the record there's a very simple rule to follow. The "n" word for instance. Just don't. use. it. EVER. Don't think maybe if I______. No. Don't. Just don't. It's just easier that way, for everyone.
Which brings me to my final thought. In the case of Mel Gibson, he clearly did not plan for his drunken night, many months ago, to go down the way it did. Before that, and his manic press junket for The Passion of the Christ, the people loved Mel Gibson! If he could go back to being the fun-loving Australian with the beautiful eyes in the eyes of millions, I'm sure he'd do it faster than you can say...well, any racial slur that you're not saying.
But with Richards, Devito and Dick I'm not as sure. That's because all of these men have one big thing in common, none of them were being talked about, period before these incidents occurred. Richards just happens to get in trouble the same week a Seinfeld DVD was allegedly getting released, Devito gets in trouble while he's promoting his new movie, Deck The Halls and Andy Dick gets in trouble because he's like the overtly jealous younger brother, acting out in a desperate attempt for some kind, any kind of attention.
Bottom line is that we all need to get a grip. Sticks and stones can hurt your bones, but like we learned, a star's slurs apparently, can hurt worse than anything.
Sure, in many ways they have it better than the rest of us, although they will try to make claims they are just like you or I because they bleed, cry and put their pants on one leg at a time. But that's where the similarities end.
Because many celebs of a certain stature no longer have to worry about things like picking up their dry cleaning, supermarket shopping or even, in some cases, child rearing. When I think of what life must be like for them can't help but picture that scene from Annie when she first shows up at the mansion. Instantly she is bombarded with all of the people who are there, eager to wait on her hand and foot. She sees all of this and blurts out the obvious: "I think I'm gonna like it here." Annie's no fool. She knows the score.
But you and I both know celebrities are not regular people, despite their protests otherwise. No, celebrities are only like you or I when they choose to be. They wear regularity like most of us wear our favorite suit or dress, irregularly and only for special occasions. Regular people, for instance, can't pick and choose which things they should be held accountable for and which things they should not. If you get a speeding ticket, you appear at court, not on a reality show. If you get accused of a crime, you sit on trial and if fit, do the time, not write a coy book about if you did it, what might've happened. If you drop your child, authorities come in and take that child away from you for an uncertain amount of time. These are just a few examples, you know, completely off the top of my head.
But the bottom line is it's all a carefully orchestrated game. The rich and famous like to pretend they are like us when they really aren't because we, the public buy into the myth. We place them on unnecessary pedestals and hold them to unrealistic ideals. When they mess up we are shocked and appalled and perhaps even somewhat amused deep down, too. This is because every time a celeb messes up we are reminded that we really are all the same deep inside.
But lately it seems like celebrities are falling off of those pedestals more and more often and they aren't being pushed off, they're jumping. Last year Mel Gibson made one of the biggest, and most now infamous, mistakes of all when he got drunk and slurred racial... slurs, literally. After the fact Mel had no choice but to return, tail between his legs and take his beatings like a man. He might have not committed a crime that would go before the eyes of a traditional court, but his time is still being served in front of a jury of his peers and his public. It is still uncertain how long his sentence will be. If he makes another Lethal Weapon it might allow the public to forgive him though and he might get "out early" on good behavior. The only other way to get the public to ease up on you is to wait for the inevitable screw up of another star and the hope that they somehow screwed up more royally than you.
Enter Former Seinfeld star Michael Richards. As we now all know, he went all "Howard Dean" on African Americans during a comedy act a few weeks ago. The public was outraged. Richards was apologetic. Seinfeld was protective. And you just know Gibson was off somewhere, giving a deep sigh of relief.
But lucky for Richards, it wasn't long before another famous star went out and acted unprofessionally in the public eye. That was none other than a drunk Mr. Danny Devito who went on The View, a live show, and made fun of the president of the United States of America, complete with foul language. And although the definition of celebrity is the most questionable in the most recent offender, comedian Andy Dick came under fire this week for joking about the same exact thing that got Richards into trouble in the first place. Didn't these guys ever learn the golden rule of getting along with others? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say slurs that You Tube can find?
But what do all of these men have in common besides some bad decisions and some bad hair? They aren't upset about what they said, they're just pissed they got caught saying it. For the record there's a very simple rule to follow. The "n" word for instance. Just don't. use. it. EVER. Don't think maybe if I______. No. Don't. Just don't. It's just easier that way, for everyone.
Which brings me to my final thought. In the case of Mel Gibson, he clearly did not plan for his drunken night, many months ago, to go down the way it did. Before that, and his manic press junket for The Passion of the Christ, the people loved Mel Gibson! If he could go back to being the fun-loving Australian with the beautiful eyes in the eyes of millions, I'm sure he'd do it faster than you can say...well, any racial slur that you're not saying.
But with Richards, Devito and Dick I'm not as sure. That's because all of these men have one big thing in common, none of them were being talked about, period before these incidents occurred. Richards just happens to get in trouble the same week a Seinfeld DVD was allegedly getting released, Devito gets in trouble while he's promoting his new movie, Deck The Halls and Andy Dick gets in trouble because he's like the overtly jealous younger brother, acting out in a desperate attempt for some kind, any kind of attention.
Bottom line is that we all need to get a grip. Sticks and stones can hurt your bones, but like we learned, a star's slurs apparently, can hurt worse than anything.
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