For years it’s been understood that a consequence of the limelight is the flashing cameras of the paparazzi and the reality of being walking entertainment everywhere one goes. In more recent years this has come under scrutiny on whether it is reasonable for someone to have to give up all aspects of privacy and freedom for recognition of talent, and whether fans are owed someone’s identity. Realistically, paparazzi and fans invading someone’s personal space and life are not only violating for the person in question, but it is also hazardous to them and their families.
The discussion has opened up following new pop sensation Chappelle Roan posting on her socials about multiple incidents in which she and her family were harassed by supposed fans, resulting in a less-than-polite response from Roan. Some understood why Roan was upset and found her response reasonable for the scenarios. Still, many others cited that celebrities’ fame and wealth are from fans and that by proxy fans are owed things by the celebrities. This has resulted in many people bringing up just why this idea of ownership of idols is dangerous, and how many celebrities do not approve of the normalization of it all.
Some examples of fans taking things too far start with Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra noting a moment similar to something Chappelle Roan mentioned within her post in which a grown man when denied a picture wrapped his arms around the star in order to take photos. She responded by slapping the man and running away, and similar to Roan’s experience she was called irrational for the response, unfriendly and overly aggressive about photos. Despite the common message to never grab someone you don’t know forcefully, people seem to believe this standard doesn’t apply to those in the spotlight despite still being people.
Crazier examples can be the time country singer Dolly Parton found a newborn infant on her front porch with a note stating her name was Jolene, and that the parent who left the young child believed Dolly would raise the child well. Dolly called social services as she was not exactly prepared for an infant on her porch randomly. But this scenario is comparatively tamed to what Jared Leto experienced. One time, Leto had a severed human ear delivered to him with a note saying nothing but “Are you listening.” Leto responded light-heartedly calling it Van Gogh moment and saying to whoever gave him the ear he’d make a necklace out of it, not literally of course.
Fans are not the only ones who participate in this unhinged behavior, but the paparazzi’s career style revolves around overstepping celebrity boundaries. Some are generally invasive and bothersome, and others cause actual harm to celebrities and those around them. A milder example is when Sean Penn and Madonna’s secret wedding was discovered by paparazzi digging through the couple’s trash, to then arrive during the ceremony on helicopters for pictures. Both were reasonably upset, unable to hear their vows, resulting in obscene messages being written in the sand while both gave the cameras a rude hand gesture.
It becomes very bizarre following this one. Starting, in 2008 Britney Spears’ ambulance was so surrounded by paparazzi that the staff on board felt unsafe and were unable to perform their job. Should Spears have been in a life-or-death scenario, this could have very well resulted in Spear being severely injured or dying by blocking her opportunity for treatment at a hospital. Speaking of dangering a celebrity, paparazzo Galo Cesear Ramirez was charged with assault with a deadly weapon in 2005 after intentionally crashing into Lindsay Lohan’s car to get a picture, while simultaneously having a warrant for his arrest for narcotics. Another paparazzo charged with assault is Todd K. Wallace after harming two park employees and a 5-year-old girl at Reese Witherspoon’s daughter’s 6th birthday at Disney Land. This occurred just a year after Wallace was arrested for harassing Mischa Barton and is cited by Witherspoon as one of many incidents that solidified her extreme dislike for the paparazzi.
The most famous incident that seemed to have solidified the public’s distaste for paparazzi was the death of the people’s princess, Princess Diana. In Paris on August 31, 1997, Princess Diana’s vehicle was so overwhelmed with paparazzi her driver crashed, killing all passengers in the car. Paparazzi continued to take pictures even after the crash occurred, partially blocking emergency services from getting to the area and retrieving all passengers. Some public courts put the incident of Diana’s driver since he was in charge of the vehicle itself, while others blamed both since while it is the driver’s responsibility to manage the situation paparazzi still shouldn’t have been permitted to surround the car. While this may be the opinion of legal systems, much of the public lays full blame on paparazzi so desperate for photos that they killed the same star whose image was going to pay their bills. This is an essential mention in the topic of paparazzi pushing too far.
No matter what someone’s opinion is on a celebrity, it is important to remember that they are people with lives outside the public stage. Celebrities do not know their fans like fans know them, and fans still don’t know as much as they often believe. If any of these scenarios happened to someone who wasn’t famous, they’d be deemed heinous and crazy but an exception is consistently made if their name is known. Fame is not chosen and its a small chance someone will ever be famous, so leave behind the concept they need to flip a switch the second they’re a household name because celebrities are people.
