Episode 35 - Eminem & Celebrity Insulation
We read celebrity tweets, watch celebrity interviews, and listen to celebrity podcasts. They’re our entertainment and our royalty. But should we look to them for our morals? Our politics?
Back in 2009, the world discovered through an interview that Eminem had never heard of internet porn. Barbra Streisand has a multi-shop boutique mall in her basement. Nic Cage bought a dinosaur skull. And Mark Zuckerberg bought up the houses in his neighborhood so he could pick his neighbors. For as much as we trust celebrities for their moral and political opinions (see; all the bad celebrity PSAs that have come out during Covid) they sure seem to be disconnected from the issues the rest of us face. It’s easy to tell everyone to stay safe and practice self-care from a mansion in the Hollywood hills.
So for today’s episode we’re going to try to put aside our own biases, to take a look at celebrities and how the process of wealth insulation and isolation from the public can drive the wedge between the artist and reality. We’ll dive back into our studies on wealth, inequality, and millionaire callusing. We’ll discuss exactly how much free stuff celebrities get each year (spoiler: It’s a lot!) and we’ll watch and laugh as Bill Gates fails, hard, at guessing the prices of common household products in Ellen’s celebrity “Price is Right”.
History:
https://www.insider.com/bill-gates-grocery-prices-ellen-degeneres-video-2018-2#:~:text=The%20billionaire%20admitted%20to%20Ellen,it%20costs%20closer%20to%20%241.
https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/the-trouble-with-johnny-depp-666010/