There are some celebrities who when they appear in our Facebook or Twitter feeds our heart skips a beat! Then there are those who when we see their posts, they make us laugh, there are those who we feel we can relate to and those who we feel happy to see at any time! However, for every handful of celebrities who make us feel good, there are others who have the opposite effect.
Recently I’ve noticed myself getting more and more annoyed with these celebrities and wish that if only for one day, that they would stop talking.
- Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan is a man who most of us have known for many years now. Personally, I was first introduced to him through Britain’s Got Talent, as he was one of the judges, while others may know him for his morning talk show. When I first started watching him on Britain’s Got Talent, I found him entertaining, however quickly he turned out to be a Simon Cowell wannabe but instead of coming across as savage, he came across as cruel. The final straw for me was when he made a little girl cry by pressing the red buzzer signaling to the little girl, and the entire audience that he didn’t like her act. While some may call me a ‘snowflake’ for not liking this action and say that kids need to be tougher, I couldn’t disagree more. It takes a lot of courage to go on that stage as a little kid and even though she may never have won the competition, it would’ve been nice if she could leave feeling good and proud of her self.
Since then Piers has gotten worse, frequently choosing to slut-shame female celebrities, as well as shaming men for being good parents. When Piers is willing to notice that times have changed and shows kindness to others, maybe then I’ll be ok with him appearing on my newsfeed. But until then, I’d like to give him the advice my primary school teachers gave me, ‘If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all’.
- Thomas Markle
While not technically a celebrity himself, his daughter (Meghan Markle) is a celebrity as well as being married to a royal (I’m still jealous!) While Thomas Markle may not appear in my Instagram feed frequently, he does appear on many newspapers covers, and as I work in a shop, I have to see them. The reason Mr. Markle annoys me is that every time he appears on the cover of a paper it’s to slam the Royal Family and beg Meghan to get in touch as he believes the Royals are hurting her in some way and he wants to make sure she’s ok. While the first time I saw one of these headlines I may have empathised with him, now all I can believe is that he is taking advantage of her position for his own personal gain. I’m sure if he wanted to make amends then Meghan would be open to working on their relationship. However, this won’t happen if every other week has on the cover of the Sun saying she’s miserable. To me, whatever is happening within that family seems like a private matter, I wish Mr. Markle would treat it as such.
- Jeremy Kyle
Jeremy Kyle is, in many ways, a national icon and I would be lying if I were to say that I didn’t enjoy the odd episode of his show. However, from what I have been able to find online Jeremy is completely unqualified to handle the issues that he does. He is not a qualified psychologist or counselor and he arguably creates more problems than he solves. He’s quick to decide who the ‘bad guy’ in every situation is without stopping and trying to find the bigger reason for that. The people who go on these shows are real people with real lives and real problems. However, the show only looks at a small portion of those lives, and doesn’t stop to ask people what’s driving their actions. While the show does offer aftercare for the guests, I don’t think this is enough as being confronted with an angry Jeremy Kyle who’s quick to judge, quick to blame, and quick to tear the ‘bad guy’ down can only have negative effects on a person’s mental health. So, rather than stop talking, I would appreciate it if Jeremy Kyle would instead take a counselling skills course to avoid using some of the more dangerous approaches that he uses. Aberdeen University offers a counselling skills course, I’m sure we’d all love to see you walking around campus!
- Jamie Oliver
I don’t think Jamie Oliver is a bad person, not by any means. I appreciate his wanting the nation to become healthier and understand his frustration at children still wanting to eat chicken nuggets after seeing how they’re made. However, when he comes for 2-4-1 pizzas, I’ve got a problem. The nations have been screaming for months now that he is not going to change our unhealthy food habits by attacking Dominos because that’s not where the problem lies. Have you ever actually met someone who got two large Dominos pizzas and had them both in one sitting because I haven’t! We’re not going to fix unhealthy diets by making them more expensive, all that will do is lead people to spend less on healthy food because we know what we like and we like Dominos!
Instead Jamie, perhaps you could try coming out with a line of healthy – and tasty – easy meal kits for people to make at home or put healthy – and cheap – recipe cards around stores or in magazines, maybe you could even offer free cooking classes to people! Part of the problem is that people don’t think eating healthy is possible on a small budget, so prove them wrong! Offer guides, tips and tricks for free online, hold classes, help people integrate healthy food so that we CHOOSE to eat them. Don’t remove the option of choice, and please about all else, leave 2-4-1 pizza’s alone.
- Katie Hopkins
I can honestly say that there’s never been a time that Katie Hopkins has appeared on my feed for a good reason. She’s always doing something controversial, and at the time of writing this when I checked her Twitter feed the first thing to appear was her defense of the Catholic school boys who were harassing native Americans following the Indigenous Peoples March. Stating that it was a stupid action done by kids and that they didn’t deserve the hate they received for their actions. Comparing their actions to ‘having sex in an alley’ and making a garden gnome look like it was taking another from behind. However, the actions she compares the Catholic Schools boys to are not by any means the same. Having sex in an alleyway doesn’t make someone feel unsafe, unwelcome or attacked. Sex in an alleyway can’t be compared to the harassment of others. One hurts no one, while the other has the potential to hurt a lot of people and also to cause a riot. The actions done by the Catholic School boys are more similar to racism in the 60s than to sex in an alley. While the controversy may boost her online profile, it does nothing to help anyone else.
I think after now what I need more than anything else is to order some Dominos, be kind to other people and maybe even see some cute dogs on my newsfeed with no controversial celebrities in sight – but I won’t hold my breath on that last one.
(images sourced from Google Images)