Seth Rogen: King of the Out-Of-Touch Hollywood Aristocracy
More proof celebrities are allergic to reality.
Seth Rogen has become quite the Renaissance Man since he first graced our screens, joint in hand and dick joke in mind.
Actor. Writer. Producer. Director.
…Um, pottery guru?
And, like many of his Beverly Hills brethren, a Wealthy and Wise Understander of What’s Best for the World. It’s a weird and whacked-out cadre of gazillionaires and Hollywood movers and shakers that constantly admonishes us regular folk on the dangers of power and privilege while simultaneously abusing their own power and privilege like drunk hobos given lifetime supplies of cheap gin.
I always knew a lack of self-awareness was symptomatic of extreme affluence and fame, yet I had no idea that it could reach such levels of inflammation. But then, we are living in the Age of Rage, when self-righteous offense is the coin of the realm when it comes to climbing the ladder of social status.
With the latest — hmmm, instances? — of Rogen, I now have considerably less respect for his acting abilities; it seems that he’s every bit as boorish and ignorant as the characters he portrays on screen. Especially, of course, when he’s playing the part of the everyman; if his opinions on real life are any indication, his knowledge of Joe Nobody is about as extensive as a novelty store blank book.
Seth Rogen vs. Casey Neistat and Regular People
Rogen recently took a break from making movies where every other joke is about smoking dick and sucking joints or whatever to wander into a conversation with YouTube personality Casey Neistat about crime in Los Angeles.
As expected, Rogen demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of what life is like for someone who lives several tiers below the millionaire bracket, and downplayed the hassle of having one’s car broken into. Below is the full exchange, but you can find the original here.
Casey Neistat: so our cars got robbed this morning because Los Angeles is a crime riddled 3rd world shithole of a city but tremendous appreciation and gratitude to the hardworking officers at the @LAPDWestLA who not only arrested the motherfucker but they got all of our stolen goods back
Seth Rogen: Dude I’ve lived here for over 20 years. You’re nuts haha. It’s lovely here. Don’t leave anything valuable in it. It’s called living in a big city.
CN: i can still be mad tho right? feel so violated.
SR: You can be mad but I guess I don’t personally view my car as an extension of myself and I’ve never really felt violated any of the 15 or so times my car was broken in to. Once a guy accidentally left a cool knife in my car so if it keeps happening you might get a little treat.
CN: i didn’t get any treats. he just took the decorations for my daughters 7th birthday party and left bloody hand prints. serious question; how did you get your car broken into 15 times?
SR: I lived in West Hollywood for 20 years and parked on the street…Also it sucks your shit was stolen but LA is not some shithole city. As far as big cities go it has a lot going for it.
As a resident of Los Angeles myself, I can at least partially agree with Rogen on this; because of the unique risks of living in a big city, it does require taking some additional precautions that may not be required for living in a small town.
But Rogen’s blasé towards getting your car broken into and having your stuff stolen perfectly exemplifies his gargantuan ignorance of what life is like for us Average Joes, especially considering that we’re the ones buying the tickets for his movies (although that number is decreasing if the box office receipts for his recent films are any indication).
Having your car broken into isn’t and your stuff stolen is, at best, an unnecessary hassle and, at worst, a financial burden that many can’t afford to bear. Neistat has had a massive audience for some time, so it’s probably fair to assume that having his car broken into isn’t something that will ruin his finances. But if Rogen had responded with even a dollop of compassion, he could’ve avoided looking like a wealthy fuckwit like so many of his Tinseltown colleagues.
Celebrities displaying a callous attitude to the drudgeries of everyday life is obnoxious, but something we as a culture have grown used to. However, this is exacerbated when these same celebrities produce work that’s designed to scold more than entertain.
Enter Santa Inc.
The Stink of Santa Inc.
It’s been a tumultuous year, what with all of the politics and pandemics throwing wrenches into our lives.
But it’s now the holidays, that time of year when we gather with our loved ones to celebrate what’s most important in life. Hope. Humanity. And if you’re in my house, eggnog spiked with alcohol strong enough to strip the paint off a car.
What better time to light a fire and sit with our families to watch a jolly comedy show that preaches at us on the threat of white male privilege?
At least, that’s what Rogen and the creators of the new HBO Max show, Santa Inc., think Christmas should be about.
The stop-motion animated series tells the story of an elf named Candy (voiced by Sarah Silverman) who’s frustrated by the fact that the position of Santa Claus (voiced by Rogen) has always been held by a white man, so she sets out to become the first female St. Nick in history. Check out the trailer below to see what entertainment looks like to millionaires who don’t know what entertainment looks like:
By the looks of the trailer, Santa Inc. is the type of show that can only be endured by drinking a full bottle of cheap brandy that’s been spiked with a splash of eggnog. I doubt I’m only in that sentiment, although since YouTube got rid of the “dislike” count on all of its videos, I can’t verify that.
“There have been many Santa Clauses throughout history. Some were loved, others loathed. But that position of Santa has mostly been a white man’s game,” an old green elf tells Candy.
“Exactly! It’s fucking crazy! Things have gotta change!” Candy exclaims in this cranky feminist fan-fictional take on Christmas. (It should be noted that one of the show’s creators is Alexandra Rushfield, who previously co-created the show Shrill which, along with its source novel by Lindy West, was designed to make chubby man-haters feel right about everything.)
What a great gift we’ve received for the holidays: classic one-liners about cocks from Seth Rogen, and screechy womanist sermons from Sarah Silverman!
Forget about giving the masses a delightful distraction when we’re struggling to get out of a pandemic and to make ends meet during the holidays. No, let’s lecture them on a streaming service that many of them can’t even afford to subscribe to.
And while it may seem like the world has gone mad for letting such a malformed creature of a TV show come into this world unaborted, hope arrived in the form of the Levelheaded Legion answering the call and stomping this wretched thing into a pinkish paste.
There will be no second season of Santa Inc. which means the sane can now sleep the sleep of the Just.
I’ll admit that there were some assholes in the crowd who fought the Santa Inc. abomination without regard for fair play, with some even resorting to straight up bigoted remarks, which I vehemently denounce. But Rogen et al. started this skirmish when they threw woke chum into the waters; they shouldn’t be surprised when it attracts the sharks of the alt-right.
However, that didn’t stop Rogen from making smug fuckface of himself about it on Twitter:
No doubt Rogen lit some candles before jerking off to that tweet.
This would be a cause for concern in a society that has its head on straight. But since our society has its head up its ass, the term “white supremacist” has expanded so far from its original form of snarling, inbred swastika-sporting militants to include…the Metropolitan Museum of Art? The Los Angeles Times editorial board? The British National Library’s Decolonising Working Group? Fucking SAT scores?!
Look, it’s their insanity, not mine. They’re the ones who turned a term used to denote some of civilization’s most vile inhabitants into a term to denote any person, tradition, institution, or idea that causes even a modicum of emotional discomfort.
Like I said, the fans could have expressed their derision of Santa Inc. without being jerkasses about it, but Rogen’s response to the backlash only further establishes his illiteracy of culture; who else but a wealthy celebrity could conflate obnoxious internet trolls with a group that actively calls for the extinction of entire races of people?
I think Seth Rogen is funny and talented, and I’ll check out whatever he puts out that catches my interest. Unlike those from the Cult of Woke, it’s not hard for me to separate the art from the shit-brained views of the artist.
And boy, are Rogen’s views wet, brown, and steaming.
Rogen, like so many of the figures that dominate pop culture, has lost whatever common touch he may have had before ascending to the throne of Prince Pothead.
I don’t blame him for rarely straying from the rarefied kingdom of Hollywoodland, and for having no real regard for those who have to struggle just to get by; the ego generally expands at a commensurate rate as that of money and fame.
But it’s bad enough that so much of our hard-earned money already goes towards lining the pockets of greedy and corrupt politicians. It’s a real butt-fuck that the money we save to subscribe to streaming services or buy movie tickets goes right to stars who lecture us on who to vote for and what to feel guilty about.
The reason we subscribe to streaming services and buy movie tickets is to escape the psycho circus of politics and cultural debates, not to be reminded of them.
Rogen has gone woke, but he’s made more than enough to never have to worry about going broke. Still, if Rogen wants to know why people are so annoyed at him, it might do him so good to take his eyes away from his bong long enough to see what’s actually happening in the world.
