Why are people blocking celebrities? Here’s how a TikToker at the Met Gala sparked a “digital guillotine” movement.
Multiple celebrities have recently come under fire on social media for their perceived complicity and silence on the ongoing genocide of Gaza, leading to their inclusion in the ever-growing “Blockout 2024” list.
Popular names include “A listers” like Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Robert Downy Jr., Beyonce, Rihanna and Zendaya, among countless others.
Several Indian personalities have also been targeted in this list. One of its most recent additions is Bollywood superstar Alia Bhatt, whose appearance in the Met Gala has provoked outrage. Virat Kohli and Priyanka Chopra, cricketer and actress respectively, have also been included.
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What is Blockout 2024?
Blockout 2024 is an online movement where social media users aim to spark social and political change by starving celebrities and influencers of the attention and followers that keep their careers alive. Famous personalities are being unfollowed and/or blocked en masse for not using their platforms to speak out about the genocide in Gaza.
“There are no more excuses,” a user wrote.
#blockout2024 There are no more excuses. pic.twitter.com/k4Lo81bS0B
— Kiki L. ???? (@dippedinstars) May 10, 2024
“The quickest way to hurt them is by not giving them more money,” another user agreed.
#blockout2024 ..????????
The quickest way to hurt them is by not giving them more money . pic.twitter.com/8PbRA4WvwA— Arwa Alfadli???? (@arwaalfadly) May 10, 2024
These celebrities have also been accused of being out of touch with social inequality and political impression on a wider scale.
How did the Met Gala spark this movement?
The 2024 Met Gala became the catalyst for this “digital guillotine” movement after social media users pointed out the contrast between the event’s glamorous display of wealth and the displacement of almost half a million Palestinians who were forced to flee Rafah the same week.
The Blockout 2024 List originated from TikTok. In a now-deleted video, influencer Haley Baylee (real name Haley Kalil) posed outside the event dressed in an extravagant floral gown. She said “Let them eat cake”, speaking along with a TikTok sound. The phrase referenced a story about the beheaded French queen Marie Antoinette, who responded to a complaint that French peasants had no bread to eat by responding, “Let them eat cake”, demonstrating her out-of-touch attitude. While this story is ahistorical, the phrase nevertheless continues to embody the chilling idea of wealth inequality and the complicity of the elite in the suffering of others. While Haley Baylee quickly apologized and confessed ignorance, the damage was done.
Fed up with celebrities and influencers’ refusal to stand up for freedom and true change, TikTok user @ladyfromtheoutside decided to spark the Blockout 2024 movement.
“It’s time to block all the celebrities, influencers, and wealthy socialites who are not using their resources to help those in dire need,” she said in a video with over 2.5 million views. “We gave them their platforms. It’s time to take it back, take our views away, our likes, our comments, our money.”
Has the Blockout 2024 List led to change?
A key goal of the movement is to make celebrities lose followers, and thus influence, which will hopefully lead to them using their platforms to enact positive change and speak up about the ongoing genocide and famine. Here are some celebrities on the Blockout List and the followers they have lost over the past few weeks:
- Lizzo: 128k+ followers
- Oprah: 57k+ followers
- Kylie Jenner: 606k+ followers
- Kendall Jenner: 460k followers
- Selena Gomez: 1+ million followers
- Kim Kardashian: 857k+ followers
This has quickly led to a few celebrities re-evaluating their priorities. For example, Lizzo has apologized and donated Palestinian struggle, after which she was removed from the list.
This is a current Blockout List of the week:
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