Jada Pinkett Smith took to Facebook to defend young stars such as Justin Beiber, Taylor Swift, and Quvenzhane Wallis after they have become the target of some crazy media attacks.
To be honest, who doesn’t have something to say about some of the antics that young stars get into these days.
Taylor Swift has indeed gone through several relationships in a record breaking amount of time and Justin Beiber’s attitude has many of his fans concerned about where the star is headed.
As a member of the media, it is our job to report on such things but there is a fine line between reporting the news and cyber-bullying teenage stars according to Jada Pinkett.
“Are we bullying our young artists? … How can we ask for our young stars to have a high level of responsibility if we are not demonstrating that same level of responsibility towards them,” the mother-of-two posted on her Facebook along with a photo of Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, and Quvenzhane Wallis.
She continued by saying that lately she’s been looking at the media very closely when it comes to the way they treat young stars.
“This last week, I had to really evaluate the communication in regard to our young artists in the media,” she continued in her message to her 3 million followers. “I was trying to differentiate cyber-bullying from how we attack and ridicule our young stars through media and social networks. It is as if we have forgotten what it means to be young or even how to behave like good ol’ grown folk. Do we feel as though we can say and do what we please without demonstrating any responsibility simply because they are famous?”
Jada does bring up a good point and after years of defending her 14-year-old son Jaden and her 12-year-old daughter Willow, it’s no surprise that she knows how to make her case with something like this.
“Is it okay to continually attack and criticize a famous 19 year old who is simply trying to build a life, exercise his talents while figuring out what manhood and fame is all about as he carries the weight of supporting his family as well as providing the paychecks to others who depend on him to work so they can feed their families as well,” she added in a section that was an obvious reference to Justin Beiber. “Does that render being called a c–t by an adult male photographer as you try to return to your hotel after leaving the the (sic) hospital? ”
Then she came to Wallis’s defense as she referenced the cruel verbal attack by The Onion.
“Or what about our nine year old beautiful Oscar nominee who was referred to as a c–t as well?” she questioned in the same post.
Then believe it or not, she even found a way to defend Taylor Swift and Rihanna as she explained that at the end of the day these are two young women who are trying to figure out the complicated intricacies of love.
“Or what about being a young woman in her early twenties, exploring the intricacies of love and power on the world stage? And should we shame a young woman for displaying a sense of innocence as she navigates through the murky waters of love, heartbreak, and fame?”
She ended the post by explaining that while we may see these young people as celebrities they are still young people at the end of the day. They are still trying to learn as they grow and how fair is it that they are demonized simply because they are making the same mistakes we used to make when we were still struggling to find ourselves.
How many of us had our ridiculous peer-pressure fueled experience with drugs? And ladies, how many of us stay stuck on a man that clearly doesn’t love or respect us? Or what about the women who rush in and out of relationships because they honestly thought the next one would be Mr. Right?
Jada Pinkett continued, “Imagine yourself, at their age, with the spotlights, challenges and responsibilities. Most of us would have fallen to the waste side before we could even get to a crashed Ferrari, a controversial romance, several heart breaks, or an Oscar nomination at NINE.”
The tough question to answer is do these young people get a pass on the ridicule simply because they are young? If they are in the media spotlight it is often understood that becoming a public image means becoming the target of a lot of criticisms – should they have been prepared for that?
Or are we the ones who are taking the “criticisms” too far and entering that strange gray area between criticizing and bullying? And then at what age are they old enough to be the subject of harsher criticisms?
It’s certainly a tricky topic with a lot of uncertain boundaries, but Smith did a great job at reminding us that behind all the tabloid covers and media appearances, even Hollywood’s biggest stars are only human.
