Celebs could pay price for actions, opinions
Valisa Griffin
Issue date: 11/9/09 Section: ViewPoint
Americans idolize celebrities - following their tours, reading their tell-all autobiographies, TiVo-ing their appearances on Oprah and even spending hard-earned cash on tabloid magazines at the grocery stores.
When you're on a public platform, you're under a microscope of scrutiny - constantly being judged by people who have never met you but think they know everything about you.
Many celebs have fallen out of grace with fans - never again to return to the ranks of stardom that once caused countless fans to scream their names.
Remember the Dixie-Chicks?
The multi-Grammy-Award-winning group was sitting on top of the world in 2003 until lead singer Natalie Maines broke the cardinal rule of the celebrity commandments: Thou shalt not reveal opinions pertaining to politics.
On tour in London that year, Maines told her audience that she was ashamed that then President George W. Bush was a Texas native.
The Dixie Chicks felt the backlash of this comment when everything hit the 24-foot industrial fan.
Maines was probably unprepared for the hate mail, protests and album-smashing rallies that later ensued. What some refer to as a political slip-of-the-tongue cost the group their popularity and the support of their home state, Texas.
"Taking the Long Way," the first album released after the incident was promoted with little to no support and play time from radio stations, and its sales paled in comparison to pre-outburst record sales.
More recently, fans have witnessed the decline of singer Chris Brown after he attacked then-girlfriend Rihanna in early 2009.
He released the new single "Crawl" just last month, but will pre-altercation Brown fans judge him for his musical ability or for what he did to Rihanna? And either way listeners choose to judge him, are they right or wrong?
Overall, music enthusiasts expect performers to uphold the image that made them famous, and they don't give a lot of room for being human.
As an artist, you're at the discretion of your audience and they're loyalty is conditional at best. Some stars can climb up out of the sunless abyss of irreparable celebrity scandal to find themselves once again cradled tightly in the good graces of loyal fans while others watch silently as their status changes from celebrity to civilian.
The question is, which stars are actually willing to try their luck?
When you're on a public platform, you're under a microscope of scrutiny - constantly being judged by people who have never met you but think they know everything about you.
Many celebs have fallen out of grace with fans - never again to return to the ranks of stardom that once caused countless fans to scream their names.
Remember the Dixie-Chicks?
The multi-Grammy-Award-winning group was sitting on top of the world in 2003 until lead singer Natalie Maines broke the cardinal rule of the celebrity commandments: Thou shalt not reveal opinions pertaining to politics.
On tour in London that year, Maines told her audience that she was ashamed that then President George W. Bush was a Texas native.
The Dixie Chicks felt the backlash of this comment when everything hit the 24-foot industrial fan.
Maines was probably unprepared for the hate mail, protests and album-smashing rallies that later ensued. What some refer to as a political slip-of-the-tongue cost the group their popularity and the support of their home state, Texas.
"Taking the Long Way," the first album released after the incident was promoted with little to no support and play time from radio stations, and its sales paled in comparison to pre-outburst record sales.
More recently, fans have witnessed the decline of singer Chris Brown after he attacked then-girlfriend Rihanna in early 2009.
He released the new single "Crawl" just last month, but will pre-altercation Brown fans judge him for his musical ability or for what he did to Rihanna? And either way listeners choose to judge him, are they right or wrong?
Overall, music enthusiasts expect performers to uphold the image that made them famous, and they don't give a lot of room for being human.
As an artist, you're at the discretion of your audience and they're loyalty is conditional at best. Some stars can climb up out of the sunless abyss of irreparable celebrity scandal to find themselves once again cradled tightly in the good graces of loyal fans while others watch silently as their status changes from celebrity to civilian.
The question is, which stars are actually willing to try their luck?
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