celeb news Lily Allen: "Nepo baby is a term exclusively used for women, like Karen"

[P.O.P]

Julia Louis Dreyfus has like a mega ultra rich father, like real real rich,  and nobody calls her anything because she has TALENT.

 

This flop acting like she hadn't been attacking women her entire career 

[ICLDXU4HS]

She seems exactly like the type who'd have a song calling out nepo babies if she wasn't one herself so instead she cries about people dragging them.

[Johnny Jacobs]

Cant she stfu and release another 22? God

[BnPac]

For Karen, yes, it's aimed at women. 

 

But for Nepo babies, I think men do get it as well : Beckam's kid, Madonna's son, Will Smith' son are the most recent examples. Sure, women get treated worse overall for everything but I think it's usually an angle people take when they think someone lacks talent or hates the person. 

[Princess Aurora]

This is so annoying. Why can't people acknowledge their privilege?  

[Dolce Vita]

kinda funny how the "it's not fair" singer has so much to complain about when she has a history of microaggressions towards women of color in the industry. remember when she painted her ex-husband's genitalia in blackface and posted it online tagging azealia? a racist weirdo. 

[The7thStranger]

It's really not, nepo baby.

[yassskween]

the UK Khia needs to give up speaking

[gardenofeden]

stop talking bi$tch and release ur new album

[Moonlight Nation]

The 'nepo baby' label and how it's used to discredit public figures and their success is definitely selective, but I think it's less about gender and more about how likeable they're deemed by the consensus + general public. 

 

Miley Cyrus, Bella Hadid, Gigi Hadid, Carrie Fisher, Angelina Jolie, Janet Jackson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Norah Jones, and Billie Eilish all benefitted from nepotism, but for the most part they're agreed to be talented and deserving of their success, and while some bitter corners of the internet may say otherwise, there will be more people willing to defend them and respect them for carving their own lane as celebrities and eventually eclipsing their connections (bit less so for Janet, but her brother just happened to be the most famous and universally known artist of all time). So it's no wonder people will be chill with George Clooney but annoyed at Gwyneth Paltrow - who in recent years has become more known for her antics and controversies than her acting career.

 

Another good example of this selectiveness based on likeability and talent can be found in a sport like Formula 1. Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll, son of billionaire businessman Lawrence Stroll (who also happens to own the team), is frequently clowned and derided for being a nepo baby, but that is strongly connected to him being an underwhelming driver and someone who seems rather complacent in his privileged position. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz are both extremely beloved by the community even though they also benefitted from nepotism. That's because they have the undeniable talent to back it up. In fact, there was a Reddit post drawing parallels to drivers and main pop girls and the reactions - mostly coming from straight dudes - felt insulted for Billie Eilish that she was compared with Lance Stroll. Why? 'Because she's actually talented'.

 

It does suck that Lily Allen, who in my opinion is talented and has eclipsed her connections a long time ago, still has to deal with the media hammering in her nepotism benefits. However, this is probably a combination of the British media and tabloid culture being absolutely vile to begin with, and the fact that her last album was released in 2018 and she's only been making headlines lately for her opinions on hot topics and contributions to the discourse, including the whole conversation on nepo babies.

Edited May 8 by Moonlight Nation

[Moonlight Nation]

My apologies for the double post, but on another note... for the love of God, can some folks stop bringing up Taylor Swift to unrelated conversations? This woman is literally the most coddled and infantilized celebrity in the industry right now, where even criticism and justified mixed reception of her bloated, unfocused, and underwhelming album was met with articles from big publications defending her and the project, because there must be something wrong with the system and how people review music if precious little Taylor Swift isn't getting universal acclaim. An album that ended up with a score of 76 on Metacritic, mind you. That's higher than anything Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, and Christina Aguilera ever released, but you don't see any thinkpieces defending the actual vile, unwarranted treatment and ridicule they got from the press throughout their careers.

 

Even worse when these people only bring up black celebrities as those who deserves the criticism instead. Drake and Jay Z genuinely have much bigger fish to fry and never presented themselves as good wholesome people, that's why they don't get backlash for their carbon emissions. Meanwhile, for the past few years the media and her fanbase have aggressively pushed Taylor Swift as this inspiring role model for young girls and an unproblematic wholesome queen, an image Taylor herself has also fed into prior to TTPD. So it does come as a shock when the woman being celebrated for becoming 'the first ethical billionaire' is revealed to have an ugly and irresponsible carbon footprint and uses her private jets as one would use a car. Who knew...she's just like everybody else in this industry, but the media successfully pinkwashed her - and that rightfully pisses people off.

 

Edit: Did some quick research to double-check and it seems pinkwashing already has an official meaning unrelated to what I meant. In this context, I wanted to play into whitewashing but how it's also weaponising (white) feminism in their agenda, so not only she's put on a pedestal as the embodiment of girlboss capitalism and 'girlhood', but any criticism of Taylor Swift, no matter how valid, is bombarded with accusations of misogyny and 'hating to see a strong powerful woman succeed'.

Edited May 8 by Moonlight Nation

[Phaunzie]

11 hours ago, raisetheroof said:

You deliberately left out the part where she acknowledged that there is truth to the claims. She doesn't dispute it, she just points out how it's most often weaponized against women

 

Interesting, like she also acknowledges this in her song Silver Spoon.

 

In terms of Karens,

 

Karens are for girls, Kevins are for boys. Like this has been established for years now. 

Edited May 8 by Phaunzie

[Just a Gay on ATRL]

I called sons of rich celebrities nepo baby equally, if not more than, their daughters.  I don't really see this as a gendered term.

 

I do think we need to create a male equivalent to Karen, though. 

[305]

is she dumb, so many male celebs get called nepo baby

[Polgg48]

[ithinkheknowsoutsold]

7 hours ago, Moonlight Nation said:

It does suck that Lily Allen, who in my opinion is talented and has eclipsed her connections a long time ago, still has to deal with the media hammering in her nepotism benefits. However, this is probably a combination of the British media and tabloid culture being absolutely vile to begin with, and the fact that her last album was released in 2018 and she's only been making headlines lately for her opinions on hot topics and contributions to the discourse, including the whole conversation on nepo babies.

Very well-written post, and I would like to point out here that I personally know of Lily's father because of her, and I feel like the nepo baby discourse has only begun spreading up about her lately owing to the bad (mostly misquoted) takes she has been putting out lately.