This Is America’s Real Oligarchy And It’s Being Exposed, One PR Scandal At A Time

If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you’ve probably noticed that “oligarchy” seems to be the latest political catch phrase, used to insinuate that American democracy is under threat by a powerful few individuals—individuals who often happen to also be the political rivals of those employing the term. At this point, Americans are no doubt tired of politicians name-calling one another, whether that be as dictators, fascists, or oligarchs; whatever latest political jargon is being used. Another thing that Americans are tired of? And perhaps the real oligarchs in America’s political landscape? Celebrities. Celebrities and their webs of publicists and colluding media outlets. Americans are over celebrity worship and, especially, tired of the virtue signaling and so-called civil rights championing that has prevailed in Hollywood for the past few decades. 

You could say that things began to crumble for Hollywood when celebrity endorsements, even that of Taylor Swift who is arguably the greatest superstar of our time, didn’t sway the latest presidential election in November. In fact, Swift and others were not even able to garner the Gen Z vote as expected. The failure of celebrity stars to influence the young vote betrayed the shifting climate in American pop culture; celebrities no longer possess the prestige and sway over the American public that they once enjoyed.  

Things only continued downhill for Hollywood since November. It was also about that time that Americans began watching as internet sleuths uncovered the layers of deceit surrounding Blake Lively’s allegations against Justin Baldoni, revealing that Lively and her Public Relations group had engaged in deliberate sabotage and falsification. Learning of Lively’s apparent exploitation of the legal system and the Me Too Movement, as well as her manipulation of the mainstream media (which eventually backfired) led Americans to question the amount of power Hollywood personalities, both actors and PR professionals, possess. 

Americans, and social media users worldwide, began to contest how readily Hollywood darlings like Lively expected them to jump on board the latest “me too” cause without evidence (think the Heard/Depp case as well). Furthermore, not only were Americans awakened to the amount of unwarranted influence that comes with stardom, they were awakened to a far more disturbing fact— that celebrities like Lively can and would use their star power to orchestrate the ruin of others, and that perhaps the public had been blind to Hollywood’s tyrannical manipulation all along. 

Even seemingly safe and uncontroversial celebrity undertakings flopped this year, such as Meghan Markle’s new hosting and lifestyle themed Netflix show. Released in March, Markle’s entirely forgettable series With Love, Meghan was poorly received—so poorly received, in fact, that she probably wishes we would forget about it. Markle’s show did little to charm viewers, rather highlighting the out-of-touch and quite frankly, aristocratic and privileged lifestyle that celebrities enjoy (I mean, who has their own bee keeper?). 

Whatever power stardom used to possess has been worse than diminished, it’s become the object of mockery.

March also brought Snow White’s catastrophic box office failure. Critics and viewers alike on all sides of the political aisle viewed Hollywood’s incorporation of a more progressive storyline as shallow and even disrespectful to Snow White’s original artistic ethos, and lead actress Rachel Zegler alienated a large part of Americans with her derogatory comments directed at conservative voters. Currently, the film’s IMDB rating sits at a whopping 1.6/10 and has a 40% rotten score on rotten tomatoes. If public reception is any indication—and it certainly should be when it comes to entertainment—then Disney’s abandonment of age-old stories for woke tropes, coupled with the inflammatory political comments made by Snow White’s lead actress, dampened Disney’s magic irreparably. It seems that the public would rather not be lectured at by young Hollywood starlets, nor do audiences appreciate virtue signaling from multibillion dollar companies like Disney at the expense of good entertainment. 

And then there was the infamous Blue Origin flight mid April, which included Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, Gayle King, Amanda Nguyễn, Kerianne Flynn, and Aisha Bowe, and provided a prime example of America’s disillusionment with star power. The star studded all female crew, who said they went up to space to prove that women can take up space, came back down minutes later having done just—and only— that. The space flight had all the trappings of a powerful elite manipulating the populace for their own increased popularity, or at least, attempting to. But, as the plethora of memes mocking the now infamous flight reveal, the public saw the flight for what it was: a joy ride used to increase the celebrities’ own popularity (Katy Perry even teased her new album whilst in space), touted as some kind of huge win for feminism. Meanwhile, women everywhere on earth rolled their eyes and went about their own lives none the more liberated for the expensive spectacle.

Celebrities once had the power to influence American taste: celebrity endorsements carried weight, Disney movies were excitedly greeted at the box office by American families, and a space launch with celebrities aboard would have roused American enthusiasm. But the string of celebrity failures of late and the public mockery that greeted them, makes it apparent that Americans are wary of the power that celebrities, guided by publicists and PR firms, hold over public opinion and can weaponize at will. That Americans are tired of celebrities presenting themselves as relatable and down to earth when they’re simply not, and tired of celebrities virtue signaling and championing civil rights causes as if they—with their multimillion dollar homes, private jets, and publicists strategizing their every action—somehow hold the moral high ground. 

It’s no wonder why Justin Bieber recently went on a social media rant railing against Hollywood, indicating that he wants nothing to do with it anymore. 

The Hollywood oligarchy is waning.

Perhaps waning is even too soft a word. Our eyes have been opened to the deceit and misconduct of once beloved superstars like Blake Lively. The public has seen the emperor’s new clothes for what they are, not for what they have tried to convince us that we see. Whatever power stardom used to possess has been worse than diminished, it’s become the object of mockery. Celebrities have become—like Markle’s new show, Disney’s live action Snow White, and the all-female space flight—a laughingstock, and their antics reduced to mere comedic entertainment for the American public. 

And the irony of it all? Perhaps celebrities wouldn’t find themselves losing their renown in American culture if they’d stayed in the realm of sheer entertainment all along.