One of the most depressing things about grocery shopping is reading the headlines of the celebrity gossip magazines. Every issue of these magazines are covered with photos of famous skinny white girls (and Beyonce’) who are either being glamorized for wearing the perfect dress, or dramatized for suspecting their husbands on having an affair (which may be true in some cases). We also see pictures of them walking their dog down the street while trying to cover up their face (oooh! Wow!)
If you are unfortunate enough to pick up one of these magazines while standing in line, you will read second and third hand accounts of people who swear up and down they saw so-and-so kissing so-and-so and they have the pictures to prove it. Who cares? Well apparently someone does as the gossip industry in Hollywood has been a profitable business since the early beginnings of the entertainment industry.
So why so much focus on skinny white girls and not on the others that are out there? Personally, I am glad to not see the likes of Will and Jada being smeared throughout the tabloid world. Don’t get it twisted, we too like our share of celebrity gossip as the latest tidbits in the black entertainment world are broadcast on black radio stations throughout the US. For some reason, vacation pictures of so-and-so just do not interest us as others.
Here is an article that I found on Raven Symone that briefly addresses the absence of paparazzi she has noticed in her career:
Celebrities gripe about the press all the time, but Raven Symone’s hard-luck story was a new one on us: the actress says that at her 19th-birthday party last year, only a single paparazzo showed up. “It was so sad,” she says with a laugh. “I mean, I was dressed up and ready to party and not one flash went off. My mom is always telling me not to leave the house with my sweats and T shirts that might have jam from breakfast on them. But I know they don’t even know who I am.”
…Could it beâ€â€we’re just taking a wild guess hereâ€â€because Symone is African-American, not even close to a size 2 and prefers sweats and T shirts to Dolce Gabbana? “It’s understood that African-American celebrities aren’t the big deal their white counterparts are in magazines,” says Bill Jones, a photographer who regularly shoots celebrities for Ebony, Jet and Essence magazines. “Half of the celebrity photographers I know that aren’t black couldn’t tell a black celeb if it wasn’t Will Smith or Halle Berry. They only know the obvious ones. And even then, there’s not a whole lot of interest.” (more…)
This occurs everywhere: ISP homepages, amazon.com, textbooks, novels, and so on; even Parade (Suday’s paper) presents the most little-known white celebrity in “In Step With”(James Brady).
Michael jackson was right when he criticized the music industry for not promoting its Black artists. I’ve been sending complaints to amazon.com for doing the same: recommending white artists over “the Others.”
Today’s pattern is the same as the past, in that we’re most likely to see news of rapper’s antics than we are positive news.
The Washington post recently published an article by African American columnist Eugene Robinson titled “Damsels in DIstress,” which discussed the media’s frenzy of covering “missing white women while completely ignoring other missing persons.”
All of this is inter-related.
John Lindsay
I agree that this has been an issue for a very long time, but I’m not sure if it’s really worth my time to worry about whether a high-paid black celebrity is getting enough coverage in the mainstream media. Don’t get me wrong - I love Raven (and so do my children), but then again that’s the point.
Raven may feel bad for a minute about the lack of paparazzi at her party, but then she can comfort herself with the fact that she is raking in millions of dollars from mainstream Disney and its mainstream viewers - not to mention the millions that have rolled in from Cosby syndication and the upcoming release of Cosby DVDs (when they get to her seasons).
I think she’ll be fine, and will outlast those other celebs we see on the cover of a magazine once (only to be forgotten in a week).
You are right. Raven and other black celebs should consider themselves fortunate that they are not really targeted by paparazzi. It sounds like Raven has good parent(s) that are encouraging her to be herself. That is a lesson that will go with her for a lifetime.
Raven and the rest should get a life and a country or a status among your own kind. We need to stop begging white America for equal opportunities in the media. Just allign with the disapora of our own world and see what happens. If we don’t have it, let’s build it.
Actually we do have a world of our own.
Wow! I am surprised that we are even spending time worried about the papparazzi for entertainers of African decent in opposed to their European counterparts. In an age where our people are being legally enslaved by the judicial system and our fahers are “congratulated” for knowing their kids, this type of dialog is fruitless. Who gives a damn what a celebrity does in their spare time. Stop being sedated by the b.s. and open your eyes to the real issues that effect the disadvantaged. Peace to you and your families.
The reason for the obsession with skinny white girls? Many skinny white girls are hot and as a result, quality options for magazine covers.