When twitch streamers can sway elections and viral videos can turn fifteen seconds of fame into hundreds of millions of dollars, it kind of makes you wonder: who's a real "celebrity" these days? And do they matter like they used to?With fans fed up over ticket prices and endless product pushing, capital-C "celebrity" seems to be in its flop era. But is it gone for good? And, do we even want it back?Brittany gets into all of it in front of a live audience at the annual On-Air Fest in Brooklyn with Vulture's Rachel Handler and Vox senior correspondent Alex Abad-Santos. Support public media and receive ad-free listening & bonus content. Join NPR+ today.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident.
When I think about like what I want from a celebrity right now, it's like I want them to be spending their social capital, like getting arrested, protesting for a palace. And I want that type of celebrity. Or I want somebody who is like an absolute monster, like insane person. And if the people who are behaving that way like also want to try to sell me $28, you know, hands up.
I'm like, then give me something to like wash my hands about. Oh, I like that.
I like that. I like that. If you ask me, I think celebrity and celebrity culture are in a really precarious place. For example, we've talked about the oversaturation of celebrities at the Super Bowl. This year alone, Martha Stewart and Matthew McConaughey did an Uber Eats commercial. Issa Rae pretended to file her taxes with TurboTax. Ben Affleck continued his Dunkin' Donuts partnership.
And Harrison Ford got in on the action, too.
my work make me happy. This Jeep makes me happy, even though my name is Ford.
And listen, it's already enough that Ryan Reynolds is constantly trying to sell us a budget cell service, but now Harrison Ford is selling me an all-terrain vehicle. That's just a bridge too far for me personally. But what really shocked me was the reaction to Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter tour ticket prices. This is why bell hooks call Beyoncé a terrorist. These ticket prices are an act of terrorism.
The very first thing I should have seen come from Beyoncé after this ticket debacle is a lawsuit against Ticketmaster. You're pricing, not pricing, ma'am. After the whole ticket debacle, Beyonce went on later that week to promote her perfume on Instagram. And the comments? I did not know the hive had it in them.
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