La La Land Killed the #MeToo Movement and Other Social Policies: What the Latest News on Jonathan Majors has Taught Us

Hollywood, celebrities, and media dominate conversations of social policy and it’s disgusting. The world of Hollywood and media is the biggest sham ever. Surprise, surprise, the industry that centers around make-believe, storytelling, fake sets, CGI, and tinsel invented a mirage to portray itself as a leader in social justice. Meanwhile, Hollywood as an entity is the perpetrator of crime and injustice.

Of course, it’s really hard to condemn Hollywood and media as if it’s one entity when in reality it’s made of individuals and artists that all differ in their motives and actions, but it’s, also, hard to deny that Hollywood and media tend to all circle around popular trends. Major studios that control the narrative are all working for the agenda of maintaining a large audience to turn out ticket buyers at the box office.

In 2018, it only took a few tweets from major celebrities with the phrase “#MeToo” or “#TimesUp” to light a fire of global conversation about the regular sexual harassment and abuse women have faced. The conversation was important. It brought to light the illicit underworld of abuse women face on the daily and the cover-ups by corporations and media conglomerates. It brought up the conversation of false accusations and the career-ruining aftermath.

Perhaps, that important conversation never would have happened if it weren’t for the Hollywood/Celebrity influence. But then again, the conversation was later discredited by the very hands that got it started. That the Hollywood elites have popularized and even profited from the #MeToo movement by exposing the cover-ups of sexual abuse when they themselves were the ones behind the abhorrent behavior in the first place is despicable. Let’s take a look at Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby. You mean to tell me that major Hollywood studios covered-up and protected these men for years while they harassed and harmed women, and now they want to be the leaders of fighting against it? They aren’t fighting against it, they are playing pretend for the cameras like they always do. They control the narrative and profit from it while dodging any accountability.

The reason why I bring this up now, is because I saw the headlines about Marvel Cinematic Universe star, Jonathan Majors. This actor was nowhere and then everywhere all within the course of two years. He skyrocketed to fame and was pushed by the Hollywood machine as a new “It Factor” celebrity. This weekend, on March 25, 2023, he was arrested for allegedly brutally assaulting and battering his girlfriend. Let me preface this by saying, I’m a huge proponent of innocent until proven guilty. I am in no way condemning Majors without the facts and didn’t have anything to say about his arrest. But what was absolutely maddening were the stories that followed. “Jonathan Majors Called ‘Sociopath, Abuser’ By Filmmakers Amid Arrest” wrote Jodee Brown in a publication for CBR. After his arrest Hollywood industry workers came out of the woodworks condemning Majors saying they knew about his alleged violent and abusive proclivities all along.

WHAT?! Hollywood people supposedly knew about someone who was abusive and violent toward women for a while and not only did they look the other way, they promoted him and made him a major star?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! If it’s true the hypocrisy is unreal! Yet again the same industry that claimed it was against violence towards women and controlling the narrative are the ones that actually coverup and commit the crimes against women. They undermined what could have been a meaningful cause and thought-provoking movement by turning it into a charade that the Hollywood industry made money off of.

So why does anyone care what anyone in Hollywood has to say ever? Every social cause they seem to support is phony and insincere! Let’s look at how Hollywood is leading the charge of LGBT+ pride and inclusivity. Are we supposed to ignore that Hollywood was extremely anti-LGBT+ and only started to promote the cause when it became popular? It reminds me of the time the American Music Awards punished and temporarily banned Adam Lambert, an American Idol alum, for kissing a man on stage. According to Lambert, in a recent 2023 interview, ABC (a Disney owned network) threatened to sue him for the man-on-man kiss. And now? Disney sells LGBT+ Pride merchandise in their theme parks and they want me to flock to the movie theaters to buy a ticket to see Lightyear because they included a Lesbian couple in it. A major Hollywood studio rejected the LGBT+ community, but once they realized they could make a buck on it, they pretend to be leaders in supporting the cause. They do this with every social movement. The cause is expendable, and the insincerity and manipulation by Hollywood to use social justice as a vehicle to gain a larger audience will be the death of social justice.

Lorraine York, a Cultural Studies professor argues that the public and consumers of Hollywood media listen and are affected by the political and social policy opinions of celebrities and the Hollywood industry because it acts as a proxy for us common folk to join the conversation. It popularizes the issue, and many feel compelled to agree with glamorous celebrities so they have something to relate to them with. Which is why I think Hollywood, the media and celebrities inserting themselves into political discussions is really manipulative, aside from it being often insincere. Celebrities use their platform to push their agenda knowing their audience may be impressionable.

Of course, the general public has to be accountable. If a celebrity says something and the masses fall in line to agree, the people are to blame as individuals for that decision, not the celebrity. Celebrities are people, too, and are entitled to voice their opinion. However, I really don’t like it when politicians use celebrity influence and the celebrities aid and abet to compel masses to do their bidding. Pres. Joe Biden advocated for people to take the COVID-19 vaccine. But instead of relying solely on the merits and reasoning for his advocacy, Biden decided to bring Olivia Rodrigo, High School Musical the Musical the Series star, to the White House to tell young people they should get vaccinated. Rodrigo has no scientific background or expertise regarding the COVID-19 vaccines. The only reason for bringing Rodrigo as an advocate to vaccinate was to make it trendy. If the advocacy for a cause has to have a celebrity make it seem cool to convince people to agree, instead of it succeeding on its merits alone, the cause — no matter how virtuous or not — is undermined.

And make no mistake, Hollywood’s hypocrisy has shown that celebrities are not all righteous. Some of them can have an agenda, too. While many truly do believe in a cause and have a right to voice their opinion, many chime in solely for the sake of maintaining their audience. Gene Del Vecchio in a publication with Forbes argues that “Championing social issues is also thought to make a celebrity’s “brand” appear cool among a young audience.” If a celebrity sounds off on an issue solely to keep on the trends, then the issues don’t actually matter. They are just tools used and discarded to engage an audience and increase in popularity, and it dies out when a new trend appears.

So here we are again. I’m super pro-women. Abuse against women is unacceptable. It’s even more unacceptable if people knew about abuse and did nothing. It’s the absolute worst if those people that did nothing are leading an industry that claimed to be a hero in that social movement.

Lastly, when a movement is weaponized for an agenda, then they’ve ensured that the cause has lost all credibility. We’ve all witnessed how accusations without proof can destroy someone and it is inherently unfair. We’ve also witnessed how masses can come together to accuse some individuals without proof and call for their social and professional destruction, but then use the term “unverified” and coverup accusations when it is against someone that furthers the Hollywood agenda.

Hollywood is not just one entity, it’s made up of thousands of individuals that are not all motivated by the same agenda or act on the same cause. But there is no doubt that there are elites in that business that are often comingled in numerous projects that advocate for the same causes. When they do so, there needs to be some accountability if it turns out that the advocacy was all just a manipulation for profit, and the cause is subsequently discredited.

So, if it turns out to be true, that Jonathan Majors had a history of abuse and violence toward women, people in the Hollywood industry knew about it, and they still chose him to be their next big star, then they single-handedly destroyed the #MeToo Movement. They can hashtag their tweets, and wear all black to the Golden Globes saying they care about the movement, but they are still clandestinely committing the very abuses they say they are against. The social cause meant nothing.

I would have more respect for some Hollywood studios if they supported the social causes that they did and stuck to it, even if I disagreed with the cause. I’d have respect for the Hollywood studios if it just appeared that with new leadership or changing times policies change. But that’s not what the patterns have shown. I lose all respect for a Hollywood studio that changes what it advocates for based on the trends. For example, Disney may be an advocate for the LGBT+ movement now, but who is to say that if it seems that the general population of their consumers are trending in that direction, Disney won’t switch to being advocates for “the traditional family” for the sake of keeping customers?

Next time a Blockbuster movie panders to us by casting people of color, or having LGBT+ representation, or show women in a celebratory light for their strength and will, I’m not buying it. If they don’t really mean it, and if they are only doing it to turn out the audience, I refuse to be a pawn in that game.