fine, let's talk about this 'celebrity blockout'
please don't hate me for what I'm about to say
Morning my angels!! How are you??? I had a $7.50 oat flat white yesterday AND I got to see Slam Dunc (who paid) so I’m… good, I guess?
I don’t have much else to fill you in on except that I’m still deep in my Desperate Housewives era, and (for the OGs) I’m back sleeping in my old room in Auckland for the week (in the house I used to live in with Flo!!!) and it’s so weird and cute. Maybe even a bit nostalgic? Maybe Bel should write us a chime on that tomorrow…
Anyway, love u to death x
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Fine, let's talk about this 'celebrity blockout'
I’ve been wanting to write about this for a few days but didn’t want to rush into something before I’d properly thought about it. As with my whole nature, my opinions are not set in stone, and could shift, but I thought I’d take some time in here to talk a little bit about this ‘celebrity blockout’ that’s going on.
For those who aren’t a) gen Z or b) extremely online, this ‘blockout’ might not even be on your radar, so let me explain.
Actually, let
from explain:“On Monday, celebrities gathered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to wear couture, get photographed, and raise around $26 million for the museum’s Costume Institute. That night in Rafah, 100,000 people were in the process of evacuating ahead of continued Israeli airstrikes. The juxtaposition of these two events seemed to newly invigorate people who have spent months watching helplessly as the situation in Gaza continues to devolve. A TikTok user, @blockout2024, responded with a call to action: block all celebrities on social media.
“Celebrities can’t earn ad revenue when we block them,” he said. Our online attention is a resource that indirectly funds events like the Met Gala, and by withholding this attention, we can—in theory—force coverage away from celebrities and onto the issues we care about. Blockout2024’s proposal, a noble one, quickly spread. But like many social media movements, the trend’s lack of unified goals and coherent leadership means it’s already losing the plot.”
The goal is to basically block a bunch of celebrities who haven’t spoken - or haven’t spoken enough about what’s happening in Gaza.
For example:
Now, I understand this - of course I do. The anger, the disappointment, the righteousness that us ‘powerless’ people feel, sitting at home behind our screens when what’s happening in Gaza is unfolding in front of our eyes. I also think online movements like this are fucking amazing - it’s like - look what we can do when we rally together! Let’s make Kim Kardashian lose 3 million followers overnight (this actually happened.) I’m just not sure that this is doing quite what we think it is.
I want to quote
again, because she’s saying exactly what I’m thinking (go and subscribe and read this full post - please):“Palestine has motivated many who have joined the movement. But if “posting about Palestine” is the bar, that doesn’t capture the full potential of a creator’s work, either. The Weeknd has not dedicated a single Instagram grid post to the crisis in Gaza—but in the past six months he has donated over $4 million to help feed Palestinians. What are we looking for here? Does an Instagram Story count, or does the awareness-raising have to appear on the grid? Do they have to have posted before October, or in October, or last month? What are our demands? And what will we do when they’re met?”
What’s the end goal here? It certainly hasn’t been made clear in any of the videos I’ve been seeing about the blockout, but I think it’s similar to what
said in :“I find the explanatory videos to be the most powerful part of this, thus far, more powerful than the mass disengagement with celebrity social media accounts. The viral “block party” feel of people sharing the lists of celebrities they’ll no longer engage with, and no longer permit to profit off their attention, is the engine driving this little digital revolution, but the why is where the real transformative power is, to me. There are multiple reasons to block influencers and celebs, as countless people are explaining. The biggest reason is that we’ve seen more clearly than ever in recent months both how these people drive culture, and what culture they drive us towards.”
I don’t have a conclusion about all of my thoughts here, but there is something kinda laughable about seeing all our favourite influencers scramble to make the exact same video proving to us that they’re ‘good people’ becuase they’re scared of being blocked. It’s laughable - not because it’s not genuine - but because what is it achieving? We have no idea what they’ve been doing in their personal life for the cause. Should we have to perform every good deed? When did a feed post become more important than, say, a donation of four million dollars (like what The Weeknd donated, yet he still appeared on a bunch of these lists)? It can’t just be about ‘creating awareness’ - there is awareness in every scroll. God - so many thoughts!
Obv, I’m not here to defend celebrities who have more money than they know what to do with, but I am here to give you my thoughts and ask for yours!!!
Come hang with me in Wellington (and also learn how to make ur hobby into a business)
Angels!!! If you’re under 30 and want to start a business (or just have a million ideas swimming around in your head) then plz come and hang out with me and some other SICK entrepreneurs at these hot and free and fun events!!!
Where and when??
The next one is in Wellington, Te Whanganui a Tara, 20th May
The TALENT:
Here’s a lil about who I’m gonna be speaking with:
Leighton Roberts
Leighton is the CoFounder and Co-CEO of Sharesies - you know, the trading app that taught literally all of us how to invest??
What he gives a shit about: “Financial empowerment and breaking down the wealth divide.”
Ratu Mataira
Ratu is the founder and CEO of OpenStar Technologies.
What he gives a shit about: “Making fusion work. Building the world’s best innovation culture so that his team can continue to face the challenges of building a fusion power plant.”
Kat Lintott
Kat is the co-founder of Wrestler, a creative and production agency that sits at the intersection of creativity and innovation.
What she gives a shit about: “Creating positive future impacts by helping people start their impactful projects.”
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Personally I’ve been blocking influencers and celebrities because I realized that I give them too much attention. They don’t care about me, or what’s happening in the world. Why should I care about or keep up with them? They’re not special. I could find literally anything or anyone to replace them with and it really wouldn’t change anything for me.
It matters that celebrities speak about Palestine because that’s what Palestinians have been begging for — for their reality to be publicised and for people to use their platforms for good, which the majority of people with large platforms have refused to do for fear of losing followers/sponsors. Having said that, I wonder if our energy is best focused on what Palestinians are asking for — from direct donations to BDS to campaigning for divestment — rather than centring celebrities in all of this. Like politicians, they’re never on our side.