Episode
How Did We Forget That Famous People Are Human?
- Podcast
- The Nuance Diaries
- Published
- Nov 14, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 660
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-nuance-diaries-7119430/episodes/how-did-we-forget-that-famous-people-are-human/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-nuance-diaries-7119430/how-did-we-forget-that-famous-people-are-human.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
I hate this part of internet culture where something happens and we all immediately want to comment on it and give our hot takes. And I especially hate how quick society is to make light of something very scary and serious just because it happened to a celebrity. I also hate how righteous people can be - as if having a keyboard gives us the right to say what kind of behavior is okay and not okay. I will say, though (at the risk of sounding righteous), that it’s deeply unsettling to be seeing memes already — of Cynthia Erivo protecting Ariana Grande. I’ll also say that I think these actions have less to do with singular individuals making such memes — and more to do with the very parasocial relationship many people have with celebrities, due to the access that the paparazzi + the internet has perpetuated and allowed. We are not entitled to know anything about anyone’s personal life — beyond what they choose to show us. Knowing how a politician is spending their time during a national disaster is far different than knowing how a celebrity is spending their vacation. Politicians have CHOSEN to devote a portion of their lives to public service, and that duty does come with certain expectations. Celebrities should not have to carry the same expectations — and yet they do. All public figures are not alike. They are all human, though. And no human should be denied dignity, empathy, respect, or safety. I will admit that I have watched the video of Cynthia protecting Ariana / Ariana being assaulted — several times, from several angles, and a few times at .5 speed. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was like watching a car crash and not being able to look away. And yet of course, it felt like there was something voyeuristic about watching again and again. Even as someone w…