What Do Celebrities Owe Us?
What do celebrities owe us?
Do they owe us anything more than the best possible performance they can give-whether it is on the playing field, a stage, or on film? They certainly do owe us that. The money they receive for displaying a God-given talent comes from our hard earned dollars. So, a celebrity should not phone in their game.
Do they owe us paparazzi generated photos of their “off hours?” My gut reaction would be no, they do not owe us this invasion of privacy, yet for many stars, their celeb status is based on such shots, and if they don’t promote the activity, they certainly do not discourage it. However, if a celebrity requests to be left alone, paparazzi should take a hike. That isn’t going to happen though.
Do they owe us interrupted dinners in a fine restaurant? No, they do not. What about a chance encounter on a city street? Should they shake our hand smile into their new best friend’s phone camera as he snaps a photo? To me this is different from an interruption at a restaurant. Still, a “great tournament, Tiger,” or “I loved your last movie Ms. Roberts,” seems polite and far less expectant. If your comment draws a smile and a thank you, you have been well rewarded. If your comment draws a hand shake, then ask for a photo op.
Do they owe us autographs? What seems to be a simple task is actually quite complicated. “Can I have your autograph” once seems like no big deal. Being asked several hundred times a day can be quite grating. At least I assume it can be, since I’ve never been asked for my autograph.
Plus, we live in the world of ebay. Is that slip of paper signed by a star today going to be up for sale tomorrow on ebay? How is a star to know you don’t want his autograph just to make a quick buck on the internet? Some stars are paid to sign memorabilia at special events, so doesn’t a casual signing lessen the value of their signature? Since I am not an autograph seeker, it is easy to straddle the fence on this. If they want to give you an autograph, it is your lucky day. If they don’t want to give you an autograph, you don’t have anything less than you had just seconds before.
The only time I feel a celebrity is obligated to sign autographs, needs to be available for a photo op, should smile and shake hands is when his celebrity status is used to promote an event. Last night I attended an auto racing event, that was promoted as —- ——- night. —- ——- is a NASCAR Sprint Cup star. Ticket prices for this event were 50-100% higher than to regular events. A crowd more than double the normal size crowd attended the event. And as people were filing into the grandstands, an announcement over the track PA system said “—- ——-” will not be available for autographs do to his schedule.
Say what? The person is already at the track. Several thousand people wanted nothing more than a scribbled signature and to be up close to someone with a talent they consider special. Whether the celebrity ego got in the way is open to debate. Perhaps the superstar made arrangements to perform a number of tasks, but that signing autographs was not part of his agreement. If so, the promoter should have stated in advance that “—- ——-” will not be available to sign autographs. People may still have wanted to attend, but they would not be misled into attending, hoping for something that was not going to happen.
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