Is it bad to bully celebrities?

Sophie Rapeepat | Head Editor

February 14, 2024

Celebrities aren’t real people. They live in a world so publicized and glamorous that their lives couldn’t possibly be anything like ours. It’s true that making your life public property is an open invitation for criticism, but at what point is hating on a celebrity just as bad as hating on a “real” person?

With fame, comes money, and with money, comes opportunity. Celebrities have teams of professionals to help them stay fit, eat right, dress well, and just look good overall. So, obviously, they are going to be more attractive than the average person. According to junior Mathew Pierce, “It’s like they’re in a different bracket. Even someone ‘ugly’ in celebrity standards might still be good-looking compared to regular people.”

But does this mean it is okay to comment on their appearances? 

I do think there is some more leniency when it comes to judging celebrities. It’s easy to get caught up in the hottest gossip since giving our opinions is normalized as a part of pop culture rather than a form of bullying. But just because it’s a socially accepted conversation topic, that does not mean it’s right to judge people on the way they look.

“We honestly don’t know anything about who they really are except for the superficial show they give us,” said senior Sera Dougan. “We accuse them of being out of touch with reality but really we are the ones rating them on a scale of one to ten.”

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but everyone also deserves to be respected and treated more than a shiny object. However, I think this topic is bigger than the debate of whether or not celebrity gossip is hypocritical. The problem is that constantly scrutinizing celebrities for their appearance and actions creates a toxic culture that normalizes bullying in our society. The hate that we so easily dish out to famous people is more a reflection of ourselves if anything, and honestly is shallow behavior to be ashamed of. This sets an example that it is that it’s okay to comment on people just because we don’t know them personally, and eventually these ideas turn into habits that we incorporate into our everyday lives.

I have no right to preach considering that I am just as guilty of doing this as everyone else; rather, I just want to point out such an interesting aspect of our culture and what we consider acceptable. When did we start believing that some people deserve different treatment than others? Let this be a reminder of the Golden Rule, and hopefully, we can start building a world in which all people are treated as “real people.”