Celebrities & The Pedestal Problem

*Trigger Warning: Sexual Assult*

Let’s talk about the past couple of years real quick and The Pedestal Problem.

What’s TPP? It is that pedestal that we love to put celebrities (and other people) on because we think they are better than us, prettier than us, perfect or whatever reason you put them up there.

I was shocked when my beloved actor (no longer beloved) Kevin Spacey turned out to be a giant pile of shit that quickly lit himself on fire all in an attempt to make it better. There went my first Pedestal (not my first-first, Hulk Hogan fucked that one up and I thought I’d never recover).

I thought I was a good judge of a person, I’d never like someone who would be racist, sexually assult anyone, or even harm or murder another person. Wow, was I wrong!

The first point is, we don’t know ANY of these people. Many celebrities are skilled at making us love or hate their characters. Isn’t that the same for who they are as a person? Couldn’t they easily act like decent human beings while being the scum of the earth? Sadly, yes and they do. Many times over, leaving many of us jaw dropped and heartbroken. Btw, those feelings are 100% valid.

I grew up watching the media put countless stars up on pedestals over and over again… so shouldn’t I do the same thing? I put countless people up there and one by one they began to fall. Here is the biggest kicker, they don’t always care. Some try to cover their shit quick or hide it but the internet is vast and ready to fuck your day up.

So, you’d think after the Spacey incident I wouldn’t put anyone else up there, right? Nope, I continued to do so until one hit too hard. A youtuber and singer was put on blast and accused of a lot of things. Some were “cleared” but ultimately it came out that he wasn’t the precious human being I thought he was. I’m talking about Dan Avidan of Game Grumps & Ninja Sex Party.

He was accused of grooming an underage fan. It appears that he was friends with the fan online and when she became of age they had sex and he never spoke to her again. He has stated that he did have sex with her after she came of legal age and their conversations previous were innocent.

Yeah, I know, old news… but man has this bugged the shit out of me.

There is a lot to interpret there and we may never know the whole story. My brain interpreted a lot of things from it and none were who I thought Dan was as a person.

The worst part, falling from his pedestal didn’t hurt him, it only hurt me. That’s The Pedestal Problem. They don’t feel the fall but you are sure as shit standing under them when they do, and the higher the pedestal the more it hurts when we get hit.

The thing is, this was my fault. I shouldn’t be putting anyone up there because no human is better than us. No one is pure or perfect or better; they are flawed humans just like us. In the end I hurt myself because he couldn’t live up to the standards that I set for him. For anyone that I put up there. It’s an unreasonable request to make.

Does that excuse shitty behavior? No. I’m not saying that what any of these people do is ok. It’s terrible, some much worse than others. They need to be held accountable for their actions. We as a society need to stop putting celebrities on pedestals, stop making them out to be more than they are.

Being a celebrity is their job. We pay them money to entertain us in some way. Does that make them talented? Yes. Does it make them special? Not really.

Speaking from experience, don’t put everyday people up there either. It hurts worse when they fall. We all need to be on the same ground. Admire a person’s talents but remember that they are a person. Just like you.

Now, please excuse me while I figure out how to get Keanu Reeves and Tom Hanks down because if they fall I’m setting the world on fire.

*Side note: We can strive to be more like people we admire but that still doesn’t make them better.