For as long as I can remember, celebrities have been invincible. Whether in terms of cheating death, or cheating the death of their career, I don’t think I’ve witnessed a single (very popular) public figure truly, legitimately get full-blown canceled except Harvey Weinstein. And even that took decades and a lot of voices. In the last 15 years alone, we’ve seen Lindsay Lohan live out her nine lives, we’ve seen the Kardashians prove themselves uncancellable, we’ve listened to mainstream rappers blatantly talk about date r*pe, misogyny and guns in their lyrics, we’ve seen Charlie Sheen revered and meme-ified for his appalling, addiction-fueled antics, and we’ve seen Kanye West spread antisemitic rhetoric while still landing TV appearances. Ummm… we have a convicted criminal running for President of the United States. It kinda seems like the only way to risk getting canceled is by having a resurfaced problematic Tweet.
As someone who used to stand on red carpets clamoring for bold-faced names to give me the time of day, I can say the world of fame and celebrity grosses me out. I loved my days as a celeb gossip reporter—don’t get me wrong—and I will always love celeb gossip (it’s a mindless, fun escape). But I think in our social media-dominated 2024 landscape, we see and hear way too much to have love and respect for (the majority of) these famous figures. I find the world of celebrity dark and narcissistic. It takes a very specific mentality to not mind being perceived at all times. I enjoy attention to some degree, and I think it’s fun sharing lighthearted content on social media, but no, I don’t want to live a life wondering who I can trust, fearing for my safety and having to watch every little thing I say or do. Again, very dark.
Whenever I hear a story about an entitled celebrity or influencer, I think about all the perks that my editor friends and I have just being writers. I can only imagine what that would be like multiplied by 100. When you reach a certain level of fame (whether traditionally or otherwise), you become more and more out of touch. It’s human nature. The more things handed to you, the more people falling at your feet, the more opportunities—come on. It’s impossible to stay grounded, and impossible to stay relatable. Therefore, as someone (thankfully) not in that world, I don’t connect to those people or worship their existence.
To top it off, I don’t own a TV and I’ve seen one movie in the last three years (ironically, the one starring someone I’m about to mention later down below). With the exception of my beloved Aaron Spelling actors of the ‘90s, and the actors from The OC who live their private little lives, I don’t revere anyone in the public eye.
To be fair, when it comes to traditional celebrities, I do admire the creative sides of writing, acting, producing music, and other things that evoke feelings and emotion. I’ll never take the beauty and deserved respect away from people bringing stories to life, or creating songs that transport you to a specific moment in time. But I’ve long been awaiting the takedown of out of touch, entitled celebrities—and to my shock, it’s happening right before our eyes in a major way.
Any Press Is Good Press… Or So It Was
Do you guys remember the running joke about how the Kardashians could literally do an-y-thing and somehow get bigger because of it? Even the most outrageous scandals would keep their businesses bustling and their Insta comments swarming with attention.
But in 2024, the so-called “Kardashian effect” isn’t hitting anymore. Like, some of the boldest of bold-faced names are getting canceled (or torn to shreds), and it’s not even over anything illegal or condemning. It’s over stupidity, getting too comfortable and making poor business decisions they may have gotten away with in the past.
When it came to the Kardashians’ “any press is good press” way of thinking, it was the perfect combination of a large built-in support system of family, and the fact that they they had nothing to lose for so long. They kept taking risks and figuring out what worked for them. Controversy and drama were their golden tickets. They’ve continued to roll with it, and have avoided addressing a lot of it—and 15+ years later, they’re still truckin’ along.
Even though the Kardashians’ star has surely dimmed, they’ll always be ok. Not just financially, but in terms of clout. To think there’s an entire Jr. army waiting in the wings is wild. Good press, bad press and everything in-between, not worried about the Kardashians.
You know who I would be worried about if I were a big fan? J.Lo, Katy Perry and Blake Lively—three women who’ve experienced illustrious, decades-long careers relatively unscathed. All three will always be financially fine, and they’ve been in the game long enough to have their own devoted fanbases. But in 2024, each have gone from being universally adored to being taken down at the snap of a finger.
The Celeb Downfall of 2024
I don’t know if it’s me maturing or them regressing, but I find most celeb antics insufferable. I roll my eyes at the pre-planned ~relatable~ bits on late night talk shows. I cringe whenever People releases another variation of an “Every Time Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds Have Hilariously Trolled Each Other on Social Media” photo gallery. Don’t even get me started on Chrissy Teigen and John Legend.
Look, none of these people have done anything to me. I’ve never met them. But I see right through the forced giggles and pick-me behavior that the general public has been eating up for years. That said, I guess if you’re really into entertainment, it makes sense that you want to feel a little closer to your favorite artist or performer. I can’t judge that, it’s just not my cup of tea. And quite frankly, it’s no longer everyone else’s either.
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez kicked off celeb hategate with a bang. I was meeting with a publicist last week, and we were talking about how with the exception of Selena, J.Lo really isn’t great at anything. Stunning, disciplined and passionate? Yes. Stellar? No. She’s what I would say is mediocre at everything. We don’t even know what her voice sounds like because Ashanti and Christina Milian were the ones actually singing on her tracks. Vocals or not, I’ve never been a fan of J.Lo’s music, except Waiting for Tonight was def a moment in time. And her movies? There were some easily digestible romcoms, but her acting? Mid at best. And her choreography was like so intense, but to a fault. It never resonated with me. I’ve also never heard anything nice about her, so when her me-me-me press run of 2024 went up in flames, I chuckled.
The canceled tour, the box office blunder, the demise of her paparazzi-fueled marriage. Sigh. And then the floodgates opened with people sharing stories left and right about how J.Lo is an awful person. She did, however, give Schiaparelli and orange drinks all over the world a major moment (iykyk). I’ll never walk into a bodega the same.
As divorce proceedings are allegedly imminent between her and Ben Affleck, Lopez has been left trying to connect with her audience by acknowledging the orange drink joke (months later) while hopping on the TikTok “demure” trend and turning off her comments. cringe.
Katy Perry
Next on the chopping block, we had the song no one listened to that made the loudest impact. Ah, enter: “Women’s World.” What was supposed to be Katy Perry’s triumphant return to popstardom ended up leaving her with quite arguably the most hated mainstream pop track from a major recording artist, like, ever? And that’s saying a lot, because I was very much around for the release of Witness and the public’s reaction to “Swish Swish” (womp).
No, but like “Women’s World” not only sounds robotic and regressive, but it’s produced by Dr. Luke, who everyone seems to agree (for obvious reasons) is a terrible choice (and “Women’s World”–oh the irony). Perry launched a much-improved “Lifetimes” shortly thereafter, but it appears the damage has been done because no one is talking about it, for better or worse.
The singer has actually been quite problematic all along, so it’s interesting that some stupid, yet relatively harmless song choice is the straw that broke the camel’s back. ICYMI, she forced herself upon an American Idol contestant on live TV when he revealed he’d never been kissed. Mind you, he was 19 and she was 33. He was visibly uncomfortable, and the judges mocked him afterward. And then there was the accusation of sexual assault from Perry’s “Teenage Dream” music video costar, who said she exposed his privates in public at Johnny Wujek’s birthday party. Perry addressed the accusation, but never actually denied it.
Blake Lively
It’s been a busy summer, because in the downfall absolutely no one saw coming, Blake Lively is being absolutely dragged on social media. What was expected to be her big breakthrough movie moment playing Lily Bloom in the book-to-film adaptation of It Ends With Us has turned into an absolute PR explosion. Aside from the fact that no one from the cast will even acknowledge costar and director Justin Baldoni (including the book’s author Colleen Hoover), Lively herself has been a PR nightmare.
In case you haven’t seen the film, it’s pretty clear even in the trailer, that the story is about domestic violence. So it’s anyone’s guess why Lively is treating it like a romantic comedy, telling viewers to bring their gal pals and wear florals. I’m sorry, what? She won’t even say the words “domestic violence” and skirts around any questions related to her costar, who she had powerful chemistry with on camera. She’s used the press tour to promote her new haircare line (which I reviewed in-depth in case you’re curious), Gigi Hadid’s closet and Lorraine Schwartz jewels. I literally thought it was satire as I’ve watched the whole thing unfold on TikTok. Like, is she actually being for real? Then I realized she very much is.
It’s not just Lively’s failure to spread awareness about a serious topic, but all of her interviews are self-serving, condescending and simply put: obnoxious. She even dismissed a reporter’s friendship bracelet offering, brushing it off as not matching with her outfit (it matched to a T). The likable, giggly, ~quirky~ wife who loves to troll her husband became the annoying girl with a husband no one wants to hear about ever again. People are literally calling her J.Lo. Then they’re bringing up her wedding on the plantation, and the list goes on.
There’s so much discourse on TikTok about how this press tour has played out, and no one seems to have any succinct answers. One thing that can be said, however—it’ll take a lot to win back the general public’s affection. It hasn’t helped matters that an old interview just resurfaced from 2016 where Lively is so rude to the reporter that she almost switched careers. After all is said and done, It Ends With Us is good though. I’m glad I saw it and I’d see it again.
TikToker Sydney Kaplan (@sydneyrekaps), whose content I’ve enjoyed since lockdown, points out the level of pretty privilege that Lively has endured over the years.
“At the end of the day, all of this Blake Lively drama really is just a shiny example of what happens when you’ve been this attractive for your entire life,” the creator says. “Even before Blake Lively got all her filler and plastic surgery, she was a 10 out of 10. And when you’re a 10 out of 10, people don’t challenge you. I would say 90 percent of the time, when you’re this attractive, you can really just say whatever you want, and people will have a positive reaction.”
(She then goes on to reference Kelly Bensimon, formerly of RHONY, as another example of this scenario.)
“[Blake] has always gotten away with [tacky behavior] up until this point,” Kaplan continues. “And the reason she and Ryan Reynolds are so happy together is because he’s equally up his own ass. You have two people who are both so pleased with themselves at all times. It does make for a nice marriage. Other people don’t like you, but when you’re together, you’re both soaking up each others’ love for your own self, and the love transfers, and you’re both like, ‘We’re both so great.’ ”
What’s Next for the Fallen Stars?
I don’t think there’s been such a general celebrity takedown since the rise of the #MeToo movement in 2017. But the interesting part here is nothing illegal or predatory is what’s getting these celebrities canceled. I think society is just tired of watching rich, entitled people get away with whatever they want. In the past, celebrities could bury their actions by hiding behind their publicist. Now, with TikTok bringing news and discourse in real time, no one is safe.
That said, the great thing about scandals of the mid-2020s is they come and go in the blink of an eye. The internet is so hyper-focused on one person or event until the next one comes along. I mean, a week ago we were talking about Brooke Schofield’s racist Tweets, and since then she’s already been back to posting as if nothing happened. Now we’re talking about Lively, but give it a few days and something else will pop up. Lively and her press tour nightmare will be a fleeting thought, the actress will disappear for a bit, and then she’ll do something cute for Taylor Swift and the internet will love her again.
While I have a feeling the Perrys and the J.Los of the world care about what people think, perhaps Lively doesn’t at all. Maybe the joke is on us—who knows! But what I can say is, watching the drama unfold before my eyes is better than any plot the big screen could ever bring to my attention.