Some of my migraines come from smacking my head repeatedly when someone I like does something stupid. The latest contestant on “Boo, What’d You Do?” is Demi Lovato. Demi has had a rough year, what with almost marrying a celebrity stalker. Instead of dwelling on her broken heart, Demi channeled her energies into the 2020 US presidential election and calling out Trump for the despot he is. So, like the rest of us, Demi was shaken by the terrible events of Wednesday, January 6th, when homegrown terrorists staged a violent insurrection in the Capitol in Washington DC. And like the rest of us, Demi didn’t know what to say about what she was witnessing.
Unfortunately, Demi spoke anyway:
THIS IS WHY I POST AS MUCH AS I DO. THIS IS WHY I CARE. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN ANY FUCKING MORE. I’m angry, embarrassed and ashamed.
I’m in the studio working on something special after today’s assault on democracy.#impeachtrumptonight
— Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) January 7, 2021
I was with Demi in the first part, my heart broke several times that day too. And I feel her next sentence, I didn’t realize the extent of my naïveté going into Wednesday either. But that’s where I fall off. I think a lot of people, mainly celebrities, would have been smart to take a breath before posting that day. Emotions ran high and it must have felt cathartic to post about it, but wow, did she get it wrong. A national crisis was not the time to turn the spotlight on herself or her upcoming album. Many people commented on how this was not the time to plug her music:
Demi Lovato sure does have a talent for making a situation that isn’t about her about her
— claire ⁷| blm (@chuudivision) January 9, 2021
using black issues to make money off a song? thats sick.
— Sanyu❄️ commissions open🖤 (@tomboysanyu) January 7, 2021
why i just know demi lovato in a studio somewhere rhyming democracy and hypocrisy.
— zae (@ItsZaeOk) January 7, 2021
this is what demi lovato thinks she’s doing
pic.twitter.com/9FttZ3Wwcx— cay (@koralinadean) January 7, 2021
Miss Demi i love you but wtf 😐
— dana (@DanaKalkan) January 11, 2021
There are so many responses telling her to stop. Some support Demi. Many fans say they still love her but not her tweet. A few simply asked who the hell wants a song about this?! which was my first thought as well. Since I like Demi, I want to give her the benefit of the doubt. I’m sure this came off so much differently in her head. Maybe she thought it would be powerful statement about contributing to the healing. And I get it, we’ve all been there. You think you’ve tweeted the Gettysburg Address and three days later you realize how bad the message was. But the tweets are still up and there has been no comment, retraction or apology from Demi or her camp.
Also, the wording. She’s working on “something special” in response to a violent attack that was spurned by our sitting president? Even in an ironic sense that’s in poor taste. Absolutely none of this tweet went down the right way. Damn, Demi, maybe rethink posting “as much as (you) do” and work on content over quantity.
Thanks to Buzzfeed for some of the Tweets used in the story
Photo credit: Instagram, Twitter and Avalon
COVID and BLM really gave a lot of celebs a platform to show us who they are…. damn…
……and what they are ain’t ish 🥴
Performers aren’t special humans, they’re just people who are artistically talented/gifted. Some are great people, and some, unfortunately, are not. The stresses of quarantine year really pulled back the curtain on some folks. I think Demi meant well, I think she was sincere about trying to do what she knows how to do (make music), but I think she’s self-centered, as many performers are, so she doesn’t really hear how it all sounds to everyone else. I really have bigger fish to fry than Demi Lovato at the moment.
Agreed. I think she’s as self centred as they all are, but overall pretty harmless. I just shake my head and move on when it comes to her in general. There are much bigger idiots out there to deal with
I also was struck by her comment about how she posts as much as she does, as if she’s performing a real public service. Eesh. At least she didn’t break into a spontaneous rendition of “Imagine.”
I am neutral on her, but I don’t see the problem. She is an artist and artists use their art to cope. She speaks out and I like that. People don’t have to be perfect!!
I agree, Marigold. There’s not a manual for how to deal with an insurrection during a global pandemic.
It could be she meant something like Arnold Shwarzenegger did, where she voices or sings a reaction. I really am amazed at how people on the internet hold a trial and convict someone immediately without a lot of evidence or testimony; it’s kind of pitiless…
I agree. I don’t pay attention to this person but for the life of me, I can’t figure out what she did wrong. She’s a singer, going into the studio to make something at this time is her reaction and her way to cope like many of us are focusing on our regular jobs to not go insane. The rest of what she says is fine and well true and many have stated the same. If the insurrectionist had not been white the response would have been swifter and harsher than we witnessed. Maybe I am missing something, but I think what she said is fine and I don’t think she needs to take it down.
Did you mean « content over quantity », Hecate? 😉
I can’t stand this woman. She makes bad decision after bad decision and then milks it’ for sympathy. No one asked for another crappy pop song from her (pretty sure she doesn’t actually write anything herself). She is almost 30 years old and still acting like an immature child. She needs therapy and to step away from the spotlight.
Please Demi…just go away.
The whole nature of celebrity is people thinking too highly of themselves. They accept the praise and start believing it all, right? That people are sitting around after terrorism thinking “Man, I hope Demi (for example) speaks up and writes a song to heal us.” I think most people think about their moms and kids and grandkids and family when scary stuff happens—we don’t go straight to thinking about famous people we don’t know, do we?
I mean, some celebs are more mature and low-key, and do a great deal of good, but man, the self-adulating singers and actors are the absolute worst.