11 Celebrities Whom We Loved Before, But Are Now Too Problematic
With “wokeness” becoming more and more important and people holding celebrities accountable for their behaviour more than ever--the sharp divide between problematic and pure is getting easier to define. Actors who build careers based on perceptions that are just mirages of progressiveness are being seen for what they truly are: extremely regressive. Here, we list some of them:
Rani Mukerji
Once upon a time, Rani was one of the most bankable actresses in the industry, whom even stern critics loved. That would have still been the case had she not gone on to say that the onus of saving themselves from predators lies with women. "I think as a woman you have to be that power within yourself, you have to believe that you're so powerful that if you ever come into a situation like that you have the courage to say 'back off.' I think you have to have the courage to be able to protect yourself."
Rani Mukherjee. Idiot. Lost all respect for her. She and Preity were once upon a time, my MOST favourite actresses. Both spoke crap about #MeToo this year and now I hate them both.
— Nai Mangta (@annebelle_123) December 29, 2018
Adding some ludicrous things about how girls should learn martial arts, she not only made audiences cringe, but also the actresses who were doing the interview with her. Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma, who were also a part of the program, desperately tried to oppose her statement, but to no avail.
The expressions of the other women on the roundtable, when Rani Mukherjee launched into her stupid diatribe against the #MeToo movement, say it all. pic.twitter.com/P7jIsZIVnr
— Aniruddha Guha (@AniGuha) December 30, 2018
Ok. So you can't tell hundreds of mothers that they shouldn't bring up misogynistic sons but you want to tell millions of girls out there to compulsorily learn martial arts and defend themselves? This is nothing but victim shaming and blaming.
— Sumeet Kaur (@Sumeetkaur102) December 30, 2018
Shame on you, Rani Mukerji! https://t.co/cfvn74fzPM
Her tone-deaf statement on “courage” being the thing that women need to be safe landed her on everyone’s “cancelled” list--and for good reason.
Johnny Depp
You might have seen Johnny Depp in the latest Harry Potter spinoff, The Crimes Of Grindelwald, in a lead role. This after he was accused of domestic abuse in a court of law by his ex-wife, Amber Heard. She submitted records of her bruises and voice notes documenting his verbal abuse--but ultimately dropped criminal charges against him to settle the divorce amid a lot of pressure. However, the fact that she donated her alimony to a charity that helps survivors of domestic violence speaks volumes. Now, Depp has been dropped from the next film in the Pirates Of The Caribbean series.
Kanye West
Kanye West has widely been regarded as a pathbreaking figure in hip-hop and fashion. But now, it no longer seems like he can be taken seriously--and thank god for that! Because if we take Kanye seriously, it’s not going to bode well for our brains. Why, you ask?
Well, because he made headlines for his bizarre behaviour last year. First, for supporting Donald Trump; and then for saying that slavery was a choice. “When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years? That sounds like a choice. You was there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all,” he said. After this statement went viral, his wife Kim Kardashian and PR team scrambled to defend him, calling him a “genius” who is misunderstood by people. In the meantime, we are all trying to understand what positive interpretation a statement like that could have had.
Oh, and he also made a misogynistic song about Taylor Swift, replete with a music video; wrote songs about sleeping with all his wife’s sisters; and wrote some more sexist rap music about his “trophy wife.” Thank you, NEXT!
Preity Zinta
Everyone’s favourite “bubbly” girl Preity Zinta shocked us with her callous statement on the #MeToo movement. If the cringe-inducing rhyme "Aaj ki Sweetu, kal ki Me Too ho sakti hai" wasn’t bad enough; she went on to talk about how women shouldn’t “misuse” such movements for publicity. "But women should use it for the right thing because there are men, and women, who use their position of power for their advantage. I feel bad when women use it for something not serious, for personal vendetta or publicity,” she had said. To make matters worse, she also indulged in victim-blaming by saying “people treat you the way, you want to be treated,” and defended god knows who by saying: “… the film industry is one of the safest places, there are some of the most decent people I’ve worked with so I feel really bad when people say this industry is really bad.”
After outrage poured in, she stated that her remarks were taken out of context.
Really sad 2see how the interview Is edited to trivialis& be insensitive. Not everything is traction & as someone being interviewed I expected decency & maturity froma journalist @iFaridoon. I did 25 interviews that day & only yours turned out edited like this #dissappointed
— Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) November 19, 2018
Mayim Bialik
Mayim-Bialik
Mayim is known for playing Amy in The Big Bang Theory, and is known as the off-screen genius who also plays a brainiac on-screen. This reputation, however, was short-lived--as she released an essay nobody wanted, containing statements like: “I dress modestly. I don’t act flirtatiously with men as a policy.” The internet responded in kind.
Mayim Bialik is suggesting that Weinstein's targets--many of whom were children at the time of his offenses--could have avoided being harmed if they were good girls like her who didn't get manicures. Which is both offensive and flat-out wrong.
— wikipedia brown (@eveewing) October 14, 2017
The victim-shaming tone of her article suggested that the way survivors are dressed has a lot to do with assault, which obviously made many people revoke her woke card.
.@missmayim I have to say I was dressed non provocatively at 12 walking home from school when men masturbated at me. It's not the clothes.
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) October 14, 2017
This is a terrible and dangerous opinion. “You wouldn’t get assaulted if you weren’t so pretty.” https://t.co/yhl0UYBSIj
— adam koebel (@skinnyghost) October 14, 2017
Hardik Pandya
Hardik-Pandya
The latest to have been removed from everyone’s list of likeable celebrities, Hardik Pandya was once the “cool” and flamboyant cricketer, who has now been certified a misogynist. The shitstorm started brewing when Pandya went on Koffee With Karan and spat out sentences like “I’m really influenced by black culture, so I like to see women move,” and “Aaj main karke aaya hai (I’ve had sex today).” Clearly trying hard to be cool and being an idiot instead, he made the country collectively heave a sigh and yearn for the days of Rahul Dravid.
Matt Damon
If you had a crush on Matt Damon once upon a time, chances are his stance on the #MeToo movement made you get over it. A friend of Ben and rape-accused Casey Affleck, Matt went on a talk show and said some tired #NotAllMen bullcrap, angering the two fans he had left. “We’re in this watershed moment and it’s great, but I think one thing that’s not being talked about is there are a whole s---load of guys—the preponderance of men I’ve worked with—who don’t do this kind of thing and whose lives aren’t going to be affected.”
Oh. My. God. Stop talking. https://t.co/vy30IpHjks
— #EvanRachelWould (@evanrachelwood) December 18, 2017
Why should a movement dedicated to opening up about experiences of sexual assault be about men who are in no way related to it, Matt?
Saif Ali Khan
Remember when everyone liked Saif Ali Khan as the charming and sexy boy-next-door? After he defended nepotism and fetishised lesbianism on KWK by saying two girls kissing each other is fine, but then showed his homophobic colours stating that two guys doing it is gay--we decided it was time to get over him. If that didn’t do it, the fact that he fat-shamed his own daughter on a different episode of the same show and joked about picking a rich husband for her, certainly did it.
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey became a household name after the thumping success of House Of Cards. He even made a dancing appearance at the IIFA awards a few years ago. As of today, Spacey stands cancelled for raping a minor boy in 1986. Anthony Rapp, the survivor, stated that Spacey laid on top of him when he was 14: “I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.”
But instead of apologising for it, Spacey tried to escape the situation by saying that he did it because he was gay, in what is probably the most insincere coming out story in the world.
Lisa Haydon
Lisa Haydon was never India’s sweetheart, but she filled us with hope after her role in Queen. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be, because she then went ahead and denounced feminism with the worst possible excuse: “I don't like the word feminist…I also don't believe in being outspoken for the sake of it, or just to prove a point. Feminism is just an overused term and people make too much noise about it for no reason. Women have been given these bodies to produce children… One day I look forward to making dinner for my husband and children. I don't want to be a career feminist."
A few months later, she also made us facepalm with gems about motherhood and making time for your child being a “choice”--essentially slapping working mothers who don’t have an option, in the face. “It also becomes quite natural to pick and choose what is most important, and then make time only for that as the stakes are higher,” she had said.
Aamir Khan
Aamir Khan, who likes to project himself as one of Bollywood’s greatest intellectuals came on Koffee With Karan and basically took credit for starting the #MeToo movement in Bollywood. Aamir quit a Subash Kapoor film after he was accused of sexual misconduct, and therefore, garnered praise from Karan Johar for allegedly being the revolutionary there. This, after Aamir declined to comment on the Tanushree Dutta case (which ACTUALLY began conversations about sexual assault in the industry) during a Thugs Of Hindostan press conference. When will the performative wokeness end?
No comments:
Post a Comment