Black celebrity matters: on the instability of fame

Abstract

In a tradition of Black celebrity activism, famous African Americans throughout history have used their platform to speak out and act against racial injustice in the United States. However, in the wake of the contemporary Black Lives Matter uprisings, Black celebrity matters have become increasingly unstable. This report explores the present and future of Black celebrity in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 May 2020. In the current moment, celebrity is perniciously constructed through the hyper-visibility of victims of anti-Black violence such as Floyd and Breonna Taylor. While these slain individuals become icons in the circulation of their name and image across media forms, what is termed the Black Celebrity Creative Class has demanded structural change at the intersection of aesthetics and politics in the entertainment industry to varying degrees of effectiveness. Growing frustration with the contradictions of fame amongst Black publics has compelled a turn towards the demand for the abolition of both capitalism and celebrity. Ultimately, this report seeks to identify and assess how the investment in, and stakes of, Black celebrity might be re-imagined in the twenty-first century.