Why I love celebrity feuds and garbage television
Comment - Hanna C. Nes
Hatewatching and garbage television goes hand in hand.
Photo: Pylz Works / Unsplash
Everyone’s least favorite J-named late-night host, James Corden, made headlines in October when he was barred not once, but TWICE, from famed New York City rich person restaurant Balthazar (personally, I wouldn’t spend 13 USD on a green juice but you do you!). The CATS star managed to spark the fury of owner Keith McNally after allegedly being rude to waitstaff, resulting in a very public outburst on the restauranteur’s social media accounts. The public ate it up.
Petty celebrity spats and trash reality television have been a salving balm against the wounds from opening my New York Times Briefings newsletter every morning. In a world rocked by climate change, Elon’s “hardcore” Twitter takeover and countless conflicts and humanitarian crises erupting everyday, the minute and trivial world of celebrity drama and so-called “low” culture is even more welcome. Is the voracious appetite for this drama and content self-indulgent? You could say so. Do I feel bad about eagerly scrolling and gobbling up the constant stream of big stars beefing? Not really. It’s incredibly entertaining and a dose of much-needed escapism.
Hate-watching Love is Blind and gossiping about whether Harry Styles did or did not in fact spit on Chris Pine (and who can forget salad-dressing-gate?!?!) seems to provide many of us with a degree of comfort. A recent article from NRK on the hate watching phenomenon concluded that gossiping and sharing outrage or incredulity at certain high profile figures and programs acts as a social glue. My mind is rotting and pulling apart at the seams from the onslaught of deep-take feud analyses and TikTok drama dopamine hits on “who said what did what” on whichever reality show has captured the public’s attention that week and you know what? I love every second of it. Indeed, it takes an immense amount of privilege in one’s general state of existence to find joy in the petty and trifling but it serves as a moment of light communal bonding with my peers. It’s not a sign of some intellectual decline for Millennials and Gen Z. It’s just indicative of the fact that we’re especially impacted by the deluge of the 24/7 news cycle and anxiety-inducing social media dynamics that permeate every part of our society. So yes, there’s something joyous in taking a break from that by following Lily-Rose Depp’s nepo baby backlash or hate-watching Riverdale or Emily in Paris. Taking on the bystander position to this content is the low effort equivalent of chomping on popcorn at a movie theatre and whispering snide commentary to your pals. It’s a very far cry from those who drain the harmless fun out once they decide to send death threat DMs to the celebrities/reality stars involved.
As the general public, it’s harmless for us and a welcome brief distraction from everyday life. For most celebrities, reality stars and networks involved, we’re probably amping up their follower count and engagement and therefore their wallet, so I don’t think they have too much to complain about. If the whole world is going to hell in a handbasket, I’m fine as long as I can say that I attend the church of Julia Fox, where I listen with baited breath to every word in her TikTok sermons.