Trying to avoid reading about Russell Brand has been a full time job. Coverage of his alleged misdemeanours and inappropriate behaviours has been wall to wall. To be honest I am just not interested.
Don’t get me wrong, the abuse of power is wrong and, if it turns out that he is guilty as charged, his actions are abhorrent but we have been here before. I have never found Brand funny, never been interested in watching him and am at a bit of a loss as to why anyone else would. That’s people for you. It takes all sorts to make a world.
Sexual abuse and celebrity is clickbait from heaven. Pruriency sells and it’s a seemingly endless market. There is no doubt that the amount of coverage it gets is completely at odds with its public interest. Saville, Harris and a long string of others show us that this is an issue that is still very real and hasn’t gone away.
Who is at fault here? Clearly the abusers are doing the abusing but how much responsibility lies with the media and us, the viewing public. We build these people up through the cult of celebrity and for some it is a drug that they can’t control. We thrive on their outlandish lifestyles, their wild proclivities and deviant practices. The more outrageous the better and the bigger they get the greater the trap is set to see them fall.
Forget the victims (please don’t), we want to see their spectacular falls from grace. It is payment for daring to fly too close to the sun.
We have created these monsters. We’ve given them the oxygen they need and we’ve turned a blind eye to their occasional lapses in the hope that they would go away. Those around them have facilitated their behaviour, in order to bask in their reflected glory.
I am convinced that these people are products of our modern celebrity culture where people are too big to touch until it all gets too much. I fear that there are many more to come out of the woodwork.
It seems we get the celebrities we deserve.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 