Ever since the revolution of mass media (tv, radio, major newspaper/magazines, internet, etc) in the 1950s and decades after, celebrities have had their careers and personal lives in the spotlight like never before. They are constantly criticized on their marriages, dating life, drug usage, clothes, friends, looks, and pretty much every action they make. A hot topic when it comes to the famous is them being role models to the youth.
While it would be ideal (in a perfect world) for all celebrities to be role models, it is NOT THEIR RESPONSIBILITY!!!!!!!!!! I could really go in on this issue, but I’m gonna try to keep it as short as possible. I’ll use Rihanna and Chris Brown for example ( two of the most famous and controversial R&B/pop music artists in pop culture today). When they both released their debut albums as teenagers back around 2005 as teenagers, they had squeaky clean images. Fast forward a few years later…they are now adults, explicit, and have a few scandals (heck many lol)
under their belts.
Both Chris and Rihanna are no strangers to being criticized for their videos. It began back in 2007 for Chris with hit single ‘Take You Down’ from his Exclusive album, and Rihanna in 2009 with her chart topper’s ‘Rude Boy’ song and video from her Rated R album. From profanity to sexually explicit lyrics and wild videos such as Rihanna’s ‘S&M’ music video released several months ago, which was banned in 11 countries- some media outlets, fans, and parents of their young fans have been voicing their dissatisfaction. They have also gotten negative attention for everything from partying (from drinking, wild dancing, & attire), their choice of boyfriends/girlfriends, and more. Mind you, Chris is now 22 and Rihanna is 23.
Chris and Rihanna are GROWN, so they can sing about adult topics, use profanity, party, wear what they want, and date who they want. While I understand that they have young fans (minors) and that young fans sometimes often imitate the behaviors of their favorite celebs, it is the responsibility of their parents and guardians to raise them at the end of the day. It is their responsibility to instill knowledge and values in regards to self-respect, appearance, sex, drugs/alcohol, etc. If parents have a problem with the image or music of Chris Brown and Rihanna as well as other stars in general, then they need to prohibit their child from listening to their music or whatever material the star of their choice is featured in (movies, tv shows, etc). My parents DID THEIR JOBS and were open about these issues prevelant in society while I was a child and censored what we were able to listen to, movies we were able to watch, things like that until we became of age. This helped me to keep my head on straight.
Honestly, youth are probably exposed to stuff 10x worse than what they see celebs do at school, hanging out with peers and in the news for example. I will not say that celebs like Lindsey Lohan’s behavior is acceptable. While I do not feel it is her responsibility to be a role model to a child that is not her own…jail, DUIs, Felony charges, and other major problems are not cool and she should be more responsible and less reckless with her life. Those things are a cry for help as with any person. A celeb and regular person should not have negative behavior like that. Celebs are just normal people with fame and fortune…not supreme beings. We all just want to find ourselves, and be happy in this journey of life. Everyone has flaws and makes mistakes including those in the spotlight. What kills me is how people scrutinize celebs for things they are doing, have done, or know somebody whose done it. People need to educate themselves, raise their own kids, and stop being hypocritical.
