Everyone seems to want a Versuz battle between Dr. Dre and Puff, Verzuz founders Swizz Beatz and Timbaland included. Yet, in a recent conversation about the dream matchup, the two suggested that such a showdown might be too big for Instagram Live — and suggested that a pay-per-view event would be a more fitting medium for the hip-hop icons.
Personally, I haven’t purchased a pay-per-view event since my pro wrestling days (and my crushing on Shawn Michaels days), but I’ve been to plenty of fight parties and their hosts are only too happy to tell you how much the PPV ran them. It’s no wonder some party invites say “if you bring cheap booze, don’t bother coming.”
As we would later learn, Swizz and Tim intended for any proceeds from a pay-per-view event to go to charity — but in the moment, my feeds caught fire with a single underlying sentiment, and that sentiment was “we ain’t got it.”
There’s a valuable lesson in there for other wealthy celebrities, many of whom haven’t shown the same awareness of the world: Understand the financial limits of your audience, or they will correct you. Fast.
All I’m saying, beloveds, is everyone must be careful as we enter what sounds like the sequel to that old movie The Great Depression. (Which makes sense, coming as it does after the Spanish Flu reboot.) It’s time for our words and deeds to reflect life as it is now, not as we want it to be.
Not only are Black people suffering disproportionately from Covid-19, but we once again bear the greater brunt of the economic hardship this crisis has spawned. As nice as a sentiment as “the culture” is (albeit employed to death by far too many of you, but I digress), the people who breathe life into it are suffering.
Now, to be fair to celebrities, Gabrielle Union has spoken on social media to one valid point: Don’t make assumptions about a person’s income as many Black celebrities are “one or two checks away from not paying their bills.” Certainly, I don’t believe creatives should keep providing free entertainment if it comes at a financial loss to them. Case in point: me. I wrote a book called I Don’t Want To Die Poor (plug!) and am fundamentally aware that the people I want to reach most happen to be the hardest hit. I ask anyway.
As I continue to beg people to purchase my new book across the internet and anywhere else I’m permitted — though maybe not public beaches — I know that it can feel seedy to ask folks to spend at a time like this. That’s exactly why I ask others to acknowledge that sensitivity. It makes a subtle, but significant difference. It means you understand the plight of those whose situations are not as good as yours.
But Union is right in calling on regular non-celebrity folks to display a similar level of sensitivity. It’s important we don’t make presumptions about their money either. Erykah Badu has been out here saying she’s out of work like everyone else and has already held some pay-to-watch concerts from her Dallas bedroom. As Forbes reports, she will also sell merchandise tied to the show. If Badu or anyone else wants to charge a cover for an online concert, go for it. That goes for Tory Lanez, too, who after the success of his Quarantine Radio series on Instagram Live is teaming up with YouTube to launch a paid show. (He’s also helping folks in need.)
The median U.S. income is not high. When adjusted for inflation, wages have remained stagnant for decades. As many are seeing in real time, when reports said most Americans don’t even have a few hundred dollars saved for emergencies, it wasn’t fake news.
Instagram parties are happening, and in the background of many are the sounds of sirens and growing churns of hunger. Do you not see the food lines blowing up nationwide? Even the wealthier states are seeing loans soar.
All I’m saying, beloveds, is everyone must be careful as we enter what sounds like the sequel to that old movie The Great Depression. (Which makes sense, coming as it does after the Spanish Flu reboot.) It’s time for our words and deeds to reflect life as it is now, not as we want it to be.
Which is exactly why one should never talk like Justin Bieber did a month ago.
I like Bieber — and yes, I think it’s big of me to compliment a White man in this economy. However, during an Instagram Live chat with Kylie Jenner and his wife, Hayley Baldwin, he sounded far too self-congratulatory for a man whose new album don’t slap near hard enough for this kind of talk. “How blessed are we?” he said, as reported by Today. “A lot of people obviously in this time have a crappy situation. They look at us and obviously we worked hard for where we’re at so we can’t feel bad for the things that we have, but I think us taking that time… is important. We send our love and support to them.”
Swizz and Timbaland damn near deserve a Peace Prize for the Versuz battles — and I’m not just saying that because I want a beat.
Bad? Yes. Unless you’re Madonna, in which case you took it as a challenge to act a fool. “Took a test the other day, and I found out I have the antibodies,” she said in her own recent Instagram Live. “So tomorrow I’m just going to go for a long drive in a car, I’m gonna roll down the window, and I’m gonna breathe in the Covid-19 air.” This after kicking it in her tub and calling coronavirus “the great equalizer.”
In both media and entertainment, I keep seeing a disconnect between the people working in those industries and the audiences that consume their content. If there’s anything a famous person can do right now, it’s to pull an end-stage Scrooge: Just give money away and speak to the plight of the marginalized. And if you must speak, please be careful.
Beyoncé and Rihanna are donating coronavirus tests. John Legend is using his platform to advance causes to those most affected by the coronavirus. Chris Evans, a White man that has yet to let me down, has been using his celebrity to both boost folks’ moods and raise much-needed funds for charitable efforts. Swizz and Timbaland damn near deserve a Peace Prize for the Versuz battles — and I’m not just saying that because I want a beat.
That said, if you’re super rich, watch when you hold out your hand, and for the love of God, cover your mouth before saying something reckless. Given recent news — that the White House is projecting 3,000 daily deaths through the summer, that President Donald Trump is considering disbanding the coronavirus task force — people are only going to suffer and struggle for longer. And if you are among the stars who seem insensitive to the worries of the average person, I imagine folks will be less forgiving in the coming weeks and months.
So be real about your struggles — but don’t be on that Marie Antoinette bullshit. An “eat the rich” wave is coming, and I wouldn’t want to be caught on the wrong side of that.
Good luck, then, to the 1% with the high follower counts. Based on what I’ve seen, some of you will need it.