As this year's Met Gala opens, activists march through traffic on the streets near the Metropolitan Museum of Art and take to social media to voice their concerns, as the theme of one of fashion's biggest nights looms large. The message fell on deaf ears.
At issue was Israel's war against Hamas and its continued campaign against the Palestinian territories, which started on October 25 and has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians in the months since and earlier this year. There was a lack of caution in their eyes towards military attacks. 7 Attacks on Israel.
International aid groups this month feared that a new military operation by the Israel Defense Forces in Rafah could disrupt humanitarian efforts. The United Nations also feared another surge in civilian deaths.
By the time the May 6th Met Gala was held thousands of miles away in New York City, activists had expanded their protests labeled “#Blockout2024” and asked social media users questions about the event and other events. It sought to divert attention away from celebrity culture. Blocking the accounts of celebrities who did not speak out about the war in Gaza.
On the same day, Columbia University announced it had canceled its May 15 commencement ceremony following weeks of anti-war demonstrations on its campus and other campuses across the country.
In April, the daughter of U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar announced she had been suspended from Barnard College for “standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing genocide.”
In May, after a group of anti-war demonstrators at UCLA were attacked and classes were canceled “due to distress,” UCLA President Gene Block announced that the Lois Quad. He called the violence “abhorrent”.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she had met with officials from the LAPD and several other agencies and called the attack an “absolutely abhorrent act of violence.”
Activists who saw others arrested on campus during picketing and demonstrations likely turned to online methods to raise more action and awareness.
Some called the celebrity blockouts a sign that views of how fans and the public feel about celebrities may be changing. The blockout appears to have been a way to test the influence celebrities have on politicians, businesses and voters.
The movement appears to be largely driven by TikTok users who believe influencers should use their platform to speak out about social issues and the war in Gaza.
They sparked a massive outcry over a post by popular TikToker @HaleyyBaylee, who shared a video of her lip-syncing to “Let them eat cake” at the Met Gala. Users of the platform have since pointed out that she reportedly deleted a video of her wearing an expensive dress, but it has since been re-released amid a major dispute. I started getting flooded with comments saying that I was tone deaf. The video has been viewed more than 19.3 million times, with comments such as “The fact that she didn't realize this was going to upset us makes the metaphor even stronger,” according to the Miami Herald. It pointed out.
The famous quote “Let them eat cake'' is a historical line widely believed to have been said by Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, to starving peasants during the French Revolution when they were told they didn't even have bread to eat. For anti-war activists, it was another example of the disconnect that occurs at events like the Met Gala, when celebrities can speak out to stop deadly conflict.
One TikTok user, who goes by the handle @Blockout2024, said, “If you block celebrities, you won't get any ad revenue,” and encouraged users to create a block list to keep the momentum going.
So far, there is no large-scale list of blocked celebrities, but rather a more organic grassroots effort to suggest celebrities for other social media users to block.
Some say it's difficult to measure how successful this early-stage effort has been. Beth Fossen, a marketing professor at Indiana University, told The Associated Press that this could have an impact on celebrity brands that are more tied to humanitarian causes than other celebrities who are known simply for being famous. .
