And You Are Who?!

I’ve always found it interesting just how obsessed individuals can be with celebrities and their lives.  Now, I’m not talking about the way they live their lives, the crazy amount of money they make, or the material things they own.  I’m talking about the way they feel like they tend to know these celebrities personally.  Think of the many times a celebrity has gotten in trouble over time and the amount of times you hop on social media and see people debating on whether the celebrity is guilty or not.  Off the top of my head, I remember specifically the “Bill Cosby Trial” and how divided some people were in regards to whether he was guilty of the sexual assult and various other allegations that came along with it.  Look, unless I’m attached to you 24/7/365, I don’t put anything past anyone and I commented on a post saying that it was rather odd that there were a lot of women coming out with these accusations against him and sure, someone can definitely make a false accusation for revenge, clout, or another devious reason, but more than TEN?!  Maybe there could be some truth to this.  Well, at that point I had several people jump on me with comments from “Women are always trying to bring an innocent Black man down.” to “Now why would Bill Cosby of all people have to go and do something like that? It doesn’t even sound like him!” That’s why I had to pause and think to myself, “Doesn’t sound like who? Bill Cosby or Cliff Huxtable?”  We watch these celebrities on TV or listen to their music and think that we know them like the back of our hand or like a real life family member when we really know absolutely nothing about them when the cameras stop rolling and the music stops playing. I remember back when people used to say that Will Smith and Jada Pinkett were “relationship goals” because of what they showed us while the cameras were rolling.  At the end of the day, when the cameras stopped rolling and they lived their private lives, we found once the cracks were shown that they were as much of relationship goals as OJ and Nicole (ok, maybe not that extreme, but still…).  People get so attached to these celebrities on camera that it distorts their version of reality.  I’m a huge fan of several celebrities past and present, but that’s only from what I see or more so what I am “allowed” to see.  I don’t know these people in real life so if something happens to them or they get caught up in something, who am I to say whether they are innocent or guilty? I don’t have a leg to stand on with that so I can’t come to their defense as if a bunch of shows, music, or articles makes me their instant best friend to know everything about them.  All I can do is just sit back and watch a situation unfold.  So I never quite understand why someone who has the same knowledge and information that I do from what is available to view and read feels like they know a celebrity to the point to where they get THAT emotional to defend them more than they would a member of their own family? I’m going to take a deep dive into this later on this year and really find out just why this happens. It’s nothing new. This type of thing has been going on since Elvis was alive and goes all the way to today’s stars like Chris Brown and Drake (to name a few) so I’m definitely going to do some interviews and research and get some answers.  Stay tuned.