Coronavirus and The Weird Case For Celebrities Being Seen But Not Heard
By: Kieran Sommariva-Nagle
Tags: Coronavirus, Social Media, Celebrity

Tone deaf social media posts are dimming the celebrity star.

Photo by dole777 on Unsplash

There was a personal adage that my late Grandad attempted to instil upon his family: “Say nothing, say nothing.” He would drawl in his Kerry accent. I believe that my Grandad has something to teach our allegedly well meaning celebs during these, I’m going to say it, unprecedented times. I believe that his theory was that if you refrained from giving an opinion you could not provoke anyone’s ire and thus would not run the risk of being scolded in-turn. Now instead of opinions our erstwhile deities are providing us with other ample reasons to be irked. From Gal Gadot’s condescending sing-a-long about a world that is no longer divided by material wealth to Sam Smith crying on their sofa in his multi-million pound home, mere days into a lockdown which is relatively relaxed compared to more stringent measures outside of the UK.

I do understand that these celebs are human, they have feelings, they make mistakes and most are probably trying to use their platforms to make a difference. Yet there is a darker underbelly to this reach as other arguably more influential Twitterati have been spreading falsehoods and misinformation. Elon Musk’s tweet of a hack pseudo scientific paper about the miracle benefits of Hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 is one such example. The paper pieced together by two opportunists with suspect credentials was based on a widely criticised French study and other unconfirmed anecdotal evidence of the effectiveness of the treatment in China and South Korea. The drug’s worth as a treatment has been further questioned with a recent study finding that it provided no benefit.

Hydroxychloroquine was later picked up by real life influential individuals looking for a quick fix to our current crisis. Namely Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America who’s daily crisis briefings are beamed directly into millions of Americans’ homes everyday via television. Additionally an online stream services those of us in the rest of the world. Once broadcast his briefings are clipped, analysed and reported on by world news organisations. This ability to be heard, spread his message and the influence that comes from this, given the title of his office and the proliferation of news media, is unparalleled when compared to anyone else’s in history. Trump’s proclamations on this particular drug have already led to the death of one American and the poisoning of another. After a man and wife used aquarium cleaner, chloroquine phosphate, to ward off Covid-19 believing it to be the same compound President Trump had extolled during a daily briefing. Further unconfirmed reports about a doctor in Texas administering Hydroxychloroquine to unconsenting care home residents raises further alarms about the ethicasies of celebrity and presidential medical advice. Whether Elon’s intervention has had any effect on the exponential rise in the profile of Hydroxychloroquine is difficult to quantify. Musk is seen as a trusted futurist and soothsayer by his numerous and ardent fanbase. Likewise Trump’s fans are loyal and quick to dismiss expert advice. There is strong evidence to suggest that people who are usually prescribed it for other health reasons such as lupus or arthritis are now struggling to get hold of it, due to an increasing demand, causing further harm.

With everyone at home and constantly on the internet several zombie myths have managed to respawn, becoming another layer of information to add to the confusion. In the 2000s with the technology less understood and technical vocabulary less widespread it was just mobile signals in general which were going to give us brain cancer if you held them next to your head all day. Then in the 2010’s Wifi was going to cause sperm counts to decrease as men had laptops on their laps all day. Now with coronavirus looming this theory has been repackaged, updated and helpfully disseminated by presenter-come-scientist Amanda Holden and subsequently some of her 2.2 million followers after she tweeted a petition attempting to put a ban on the 5G rollout.

5G is the new boogie man and instead of cancer and low sperm count it’s auto-immune suppressing aiding and abetting Covid-19s spread. It’s interesting to observe that the overwhelming majority of people didn’t stop using phones or laptops yet people have taken to industrial sabotage in the UK. The evolution of this theory is probably behind such acts as individuals themselves can decide to stop using phones or laptops. Yet due to the nature of the technology, a larger number 5G infrastructures need to be built especially in densely populated areas. Giving people little choice whether or not they are exposed, potentially forcing them to take drastic action.

ITV’s ‘This Morning’ presenter: Eamon Holmes, looking to provide balance to the debate after the theories were described as dangerous by leading scientists, criticised the press for dismissing the public’s fears out of hand on live TV. Holmes was treading a fine line with his comments as Ofcom, the British media and telecoms regulatory commission, had previously warned against giving credence to unproven and dangerous theories. It has to be said it is not often that people go to Amanda Holden and Eamon Holmes for their opinions on technologies’ effect on health or conspiracy theories. The demographic these two presenters appeal and broadcast to are unlikely to have come into contact with conspiracy theories in this way before. These unfamiliar ideas are more believable because of their novelty and the fact it has been promulgated by trusted personalities. It has to be noted that both Amanda and Eamon rowed back on the theory with Amanda claiming she tweeted the petition by mistake and Eamon clarifying he does not believe the theory himself. The 5G conspiracy, although started long before Covid-19, appears to be destined to continue throughout the pandemic and after. As it continues to find additional agents to fan the not-so-figurative flames such as British singer M.I.A and American actor Woody Harrelson who have also stoked up support on social media. The damage and cost this may cause as Britain attempts to upgrade its infrastructure will be left up to time as the social media giants and the government seem completely unable to quell these inflammatory rumours.

On the other end of the scale, Ben Fogle attempted to hijack the newfound sense of civic unity by insisting that the nation come together at 9am on a Tuesday for a sing/clap-along for the Queen on her birthday. Although there has never been any such celebration for the Queen before, despite her numerous birthdays. Ben Fogle either now believes that clapping for things is the new norm or that we are so bored we’ll do it whenever someone suggests it. He misses the point as it’s an attempt to show some appreciation for the sacrifice for those working in the NHS in exceptional and dangerous circumstances. Fogel was rightly roundly mocked and cricitised in the media in spite of this he double downed and attempted an interesting reverse Uno on the critics. Describing the detractors as “mean-spirited” and subsequently crediting his 9-year old son with the original idea in a video posted to twitter. Suggesting either he stole the idea from his son, after not crediting in the first place. Or after realising it wasn’t getting the support he wanted, thought it was a good marketing move to drive up public interest. This didn’t work and the uptake on Fogel’s idea was very limited.

My question is where are their PR people, have they all been furloughed? Or Is there some unknown Covid-19 symptom that makes the ultra-wealthy completely unable to tell what the general public mood is? There are some who have successfully managed to contribute to society during the crisis, James McAvoy provides a great case study for any PR or Marketing undergraduate looking back on the Coronavirus crisis in the future. McAvoy donated a reasonable sum of £275,000 pounds to a crowdfunder raising money for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Becoming a champion of a campaign termed: ‘Mask for Heroes’ which now looks prophetic given the current crisis in shortages of PPE in the NHS and UK. He also supported the campaign by filing a short, apolitical, video explaining why the crowdfunder was necessary and how it would directly increase the stocks of PPE. McAvoy has subsequently gone on ‘Good Morning Britain’ to push for further donations. Others among the privileged should take note.

Despite a few cases of positive celebrity impact, this crisis has shown there really is a time and a place for their input. Increasingly people are looking towards their community with food banks seeing a surge in volunteers, mutual aid organizations cropping up and local institutions offering support and guidance. Individual instances of kindness, selfishness and civil spirit are abound as the circumstances of the pandemic make people aware and they have rightly gravitated towards the experts, academics and even politicians which despite the unfortunate circumstances is surely a welcome state of affairs. As those professionals have been much maligned over recent years. The pandemic has shown that the population is quite capable of putting its shiny celebrity toys away in favor of serious professional stationary, we just have to work out a way of telling the toys that playtime is over.