Have celebrities taken their privilege and influence too far? Or does society just believe that because of the spotlight they are under, their offensive and even illegal actions can be disregarded and looked past?

Time and time again, countless entertainment professionals ranging from athletes to singers to actors are in the news for illegal acts and are often finding themselves under arrest. A prime example of this is the recent trouble Travis Scott has gotten into after causing around $12,000 in damage and supposedly punching the sound engineer at a Manhattan nightclub.

While the NYPD is still investigating the situation, nothing will come of this considering how easily celebrities are able to swerve justice for their illegal and immoral actions. While it can be argued that the incident is not entirely at the fault of Scott, he was in the news just a few years ago for the 10 casualties at his infamous “AstroWorld” concert on November 5, 2021.

He faced a significant amount of backlash for the situation, however, the situation quickly escaped the media’s attention in just a matter of months. But in May 2022, he was back to performing like nothing happened. He had already been performing at private events before this public appearance. Then on May 15, he performed at the Billboard Music Awards and was a nominee at the event. Further proving how even with everything bad that went on during one of his performances, he was later able to perform at one of the biggest award shows for music.

Similarly, NBA superstar Ja Morant was facing accusations from incidents over the summer for getting into an argument that supposedly escalated against a 17 year old kid. Morant continued to worsen his case and pulled a firearm out on Instagram live. This intensified the situation to the extent where many wonder if his career could potentially be ruined.

Although the media is not certain if the incidents over the summer against the 17 year old are entirely true, it still makes society question Morant’s character especially as he is revered by younger generations. Although Morant is still away from his team because of the incident with the firearm, the case about the firearm is closed and there will be no crime charged.

The problem I see is that his suspension would have only been extended if he was found with the gun on team premises. I feel this doesn’t give justice for him, setting such a negative example for the youth who greatly follow him. While yes, you can have a legal gun, the issue is the way he was publicly seen showing it off and playing with it like a toy.

Morant recently signed a new shoe deal with Nike and his JA 1 shoe is set to drop in the spring. As of now Nike seems to still be set on dropping the shoe, whereas I think they should either postpone the drop or cancel it altogether. Similarly to what they recently did with dropping Kyrie Irving for the reasons he was in the news. Personally, I don’t think this is much different and Nike would be setting a poor example by continuing to go through with Ja’s shoe, right after his name being all of the news in this way.

The recent incidents involving rapper Travis Scott and the NBA player Ja Morant have made society question the responsibility, or lack thereof, that celebrities have when it comes to morality. Celebrities all over are living life more freely than the average person and from an outside perspective, it appears they are getting away with everything. It seems that no matter what they do, no matter how brutal the situation may be, it gets looked past.

Celebrities should be held to a higher standard and take more responsibility for their actions, rather than a semi-heart felt apology. If they are the true “influence” on people all over the world, especially the younger generation, they should do better or get out of the spotlight.

Many young children and teenagers follow celebrities and everything they do, and reenact this in their own lives. Unfortunately, society is always watching those who are in the spotlight and the younger generations are looking up at these “stars” in admiration as they hope to be just like them. As the younger generations grow up, they might think that they can live their lives in the same way these influencers can and do whatever they want, thinking there are no consequences. All in all, influencers and celebrities should act as role models for the next generation, instead of continuing to do negative things and escape accountability.