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Your Favorite Celebrity Is Problematic

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Everyone is problematic, no doubt about it. I am, you are, and your favorite celebrity is too.  That’s okay, because nobody’s perfect, and we are all progressing and educating ourselves on new topics every day. So, while it is okay to have a problematic fave, it isn’t okay to support your favorite celebrity’s problematic behavior.

If it wasn’t okay to have a problematic favorite, there would be no one left to ‘favoritize’. Even some of the least problematic celebrities are still problematic—Tyler Oakley believes in reverse racism, Zendaya encouraged Kylie Jenner’s blackface picture, Amy Poehler is extremely fatphobic, Tyler Joseph has tweeted misogynistic phrases and even Halsey has used a transphobic slur.

Bottom line is, it’s okay to love a problematic celebrity as long as you don’t support or defend their problematic behaviors.

For example, Demi Lovato.

She’s my mom. She really is. I love her to death, and she has helped me through some of the worst points of my life, but she is the epitome of a white feminist. Her lyrics have been misogynistic and perpetuated stereotypes—you make me wanna act like a girl, paint my face and wear high heels. (News flash, mom! Boys can paint their nails and wear high heels, too! So can individuals who identify as genderfluid, nonbinary, agender and everything in between!)

In a recent interview, she claimed, “I considered myself a feminist before it was cool.” (What the actual hell?)

And most recently, on Twitter, while Zendaya was celebrating the release of her Barbie doll with locs, Demi thought it was a good idea to tweet Barbie,

She’s absolutely right that there needs to be more representation for different weights and body types within the Barbie products, but there also needs to be more racial diversity. White dolls with eurocentric features tend to dominate the shelves of toy stores, and that is not okay. Demi could’ve chosen any other time to bring up the point that there needs to be an increase in “plus-sized dolls” but she shouldn’t have done it right then, when Zendaya was shedding a positive light on all the little African American girls teased for their dreads. That was extremely problematic of her.

But it’s okay to be a fan of hers. I still am, regardless of that incident. Good people can be problematic. Good people can make bad decisions. Good people—celebrities, specifically—aren’t always as woke as they should be, considering the strong influential/inspirational role they have on the youth, but they’re still good people, and you can still be their fan.

It doesn’t matter who your fave is, they’re problematic. Everyone is problematic. But they’re learning and growing and unlearning problematic behaviors. And that’s okay.

 

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