Money is immunity

Privileged celebrities that recklessly defy coronavirus restrictions aren’t worth looking up to

Many people, including me, aspire to live the life of a traditional celebrity: We want to live in a 20-bedroom mansion with a pool that’s a mile long and grounds that seem to go on forever, to attend the most lavish of parties and to mingle with our favorite actors from our favorite shows and movies. So when we see the celebrities we look up to flaunt their wealth as carelessly as they do, our first thought usually isn’t, “God, look at all of the money they’re wasting.” More often than not, it’s, “God, I wish I could be like them.” And now that COVID-19 has forced everyone to adapt to a new way of life, shouldn’t celebrities have to do the same thing?

Of course they do. But that doesn’t mean they are.

Incident after incident of high-profile figures like the Kardashian family, the Hype House and Jake Paul having all been caught violating COVID-19 restrictions by throwing massive gatherings without masks and throwing tests around like party favors to all of their equally high-profile friends, just so they can throw parties in their mansions or private islands or what have you. Money is no object to them, so all it costs to have their fun is the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

And when the celebrities we all love and adore are acting with such reckless abandon, how can those who wanted to be just as rich and successful as them continue to hold those sentiments after their idols act with such little empathy for human life? In a time where people all over the country are dropping like flies when other countries are doing so much better because their citizens aren’t dumb enough to argue with the government during a global pandemic, the very last thing anyone wants to hear about is whichever celebrity decided to be an idiot and host another superspreader party, or post a tone-deaf motivational video on social media.

Gal Gadot, I love you. But no one needed to see a montage of twenty-something celebrities staring dead-faced into the camera, singing off-key in their million-dollar mansions while hospitals no longer have the capacity to house so many infected patients.

It’s understandable that people are sick and tired of the coronavirus, but the only way we can get back to normal is if we stop acting selfishly and start thinking about the countless people who’ve died or lost loved ones to the virus, and acting accordingly to prevent any more deaths. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like many celebrities have gotten the hint. They’re so detached from reality that people who’d normally defend their idols are making countless social media posts and YouTube videos, calling for their favorite celebrities to finally take a hint and start taking the coronavirus seriously.

Once the virus passes and life does go back to normal, there will still be people who wish to live the lives of certain celebrities, and that’s perfectly fine. All I’m going to suggest is that those people should find some better role models. Regardless of who anyone idolizes, however, there’s no denying that the coronavirus has changed celebrity culture forever, and the public will be watching them more closely than they ever have before.