While 2020 has opened our eyes to far more profound injustices at the heart of Western society, one of the less-expected liftings of the veil was endured by the world of celebrity. As many around the world struggled to make ends meet or to care for sick family members during the pandemic, platitudes from celebrities in their Beverly Hills walk-in wardrobes noting that “we’re all in this together” had a tendency to go down like lead balloons.
“Is the age of celebrity over?” asked the BBC, while a headline in the New York Times declared that “celebrity culture is burning.” In the words of The Guardian, “the coronavirus crisis has exposed the ugly truth about celebrity culture and capitalism.” While patient zero was undoubtedly the video led by Gal Gadot, featuring a coterie of actors and musicians singing John Lennon’s “Imagine”—“one pandemic at a time, please” read a memorable response on Twitter—a backlash to once-beloved celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres, Madonna, and Vanessa Hudgens saw posts that might usually be perceived as humorously out-of-touch appear infuriatingly tone-deaf instead.
So have celebrities truly, irrevocably lost their shine? Not so fast. If there was one bright spot in the vast Satanic chasm of darkness that was 2020, it was the handful of famous faces (some of whom you might not have thought about in a while) who, while getting to grips with the complexities of social media, provided the kindness and comic relief we all needed. Here’s to the unvarnished celebrity eccentrics that achieved surprise stardom this year—and got us through lockdown.
Dionne Warwick
She may be a late contender for the honor, but after Dionne Warwick took over from her social media team last month, her pithy musings on pop culture and brilliantly witty clapbacks have made her the newly-anointed queen of Twitter. Her delightfully chaotic streak of tweets began with a post making people aware she could see them adding her songs to their Spotify sex playlists, before asking Chance the Rapper why he needed to include “rapper” in his stage name and questioning the unusual spelling of The Weeknd’s moniker. But all’s well that end’s well, and Warwick has now joined forces with Chance and the Weeknd for a charity single to help feed the hungry this festive season. A heartwarming Twitter tale for the ages.
Leslie Jordan
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