Have Celebrities Right to Free Speech Gotten Out of Hand?

Are we penalising celebrities holding controversial views and opinions and expressing them through out the media?

Modern day celebrities have easy access to media, therefore it is likely that their own views and opinions will reach easily influenced, children and teens that value their role models ways of thinking. Unfortunately this could be that of prejudice and ignorance.

It is to be questioned whether celebrities should have a platform at all to share what they personally believe. In terms of teenage influence, YouTubers who share almost every aspect of their life with their audience: most recently the Youtuber Logan Paul drew media coverage from his most recent venture to ‘go gay for a month’ has sparked outrage from the LGBTQ community.

Logan Paul, a 22-year-old Vlogger, documents his elaborate LA lifestyle focused on his kooky bunch of friends, his pet parrot and his adoring fans: the Logang. Reaching a total number of 2.3 billion views, mostly children, it is fair to deem Logan as an influental figure amongst today’s youtube culture. His proposed new year resolution of making march a male only month has angered those who identify as LGBT+ as the terms used seem to mock the prefernce of gay men, in that referring to them as a joke.

Similarly to this, Ellen Page (of Juno and X-men fame) has voiced her opinions of the lack of degradation of celebrities not standing up and allowing others to skim over important topics such as gay rights and how LGBTQ people are portrayed in media. The main target of her emotional interview was the Jurassic World actor, Chris Pratt and the lack of coverage and discussion of his attendence to a anti-LGBTQ church, as he sat on the same show a short time previous to Page, to discuss his dieting routine set out by the church.

Page’s emotional standpoint on a personal dilemma to her, has caused some controversy as people have been describing her lack privity on the matter as dramatic, but many others support her recognition of human treatment in the industry, and how equality should be more prevelant. In todays society, it is shown to be imperitive that important and controversial matters should be discussed and socialites should stand for what they beleive in. This is key in the Me Too movement, as abusers have been brought to justice for their life-ruining wrong doings, in that they can be publicly shamed by that of the internet and suffer a detriment in their career.

Although, a celebrities views and opinions can be seen as irrelevant and harmful to those of a person living an everyday life, it may be vital for idols to speak on current issues and spread awareness of potentially harmful modern day queries.