Fear not, world — celebrities have swooped into save the day again. In a moment that feels like a sequel to the infamous "Imagine" cover video, a trove of famous people have signed a letter addressed to world leaders to take action in “ending the Covid-19 pandemic now.”
Stars from Anne Hathaway to Eva Longoria (and many names that you’ve likely never heard of) condemned a “pandemic of apathy” and the glaring lack of vaccines provided for “low-income countries.” They also issued a directive to global leaders to “make 7 billion vaccine doses available before the end of 2021, and an additional 7 billion doses by mid-2022 to fully vaccinate 70% of the world by next summer.”
Now, the letter is not exactly akin to the Imagine debacle — that sweet, off-pitch serenade meant to cure the world of all pain via the fortifying light of star power. This is not as blatantly self-indulgent and does intend to have some sort of hand at real-world impact. The issue, though, is the self-important delusion that a gaggle of actors and singers would have any impact on actual global policy. The ugly nexus of factors that are dictating how world powers are hoarding or distributing vaccines will, of course, not be impacted by Laura Linney and Karamo Brown from Queer Eye telling leaders to get their shit in order. The fact that this is a group of specifically American celebrity elite only makes things worse.
Granted, the ultimate intent here is likely to use their platform to get attention toward a bigger goal at the bottom of the message — an open CARE petition asking others to join their call to world leaders. That’s right — the grand plan that dozens of wealthy and famous elite have come up with is to ask you to sign an online petition. Surely, there is a better way to make an impact? Surely, these pretty famous people would have thought this through a bit more?
What you have here is that these celebrities are either conceited enough to genuinely believe that their fame is so impactful that they can actually affect change that is far beyond their scope of influence — or they are aware of the futility of their efforts but have the desire to play “activist” for a day and feel like they're making a difference. Even as someone who is fully and shamelessly committed to the cult of celebrity, I’m begging these famous people to just look beautiful and keep quiet for the rest of this unending pandemic. Did Gal Gadot teach you nothing?
