Adam Levine AP FILE PHOTO
The social media have become so extensive and pervasive in their influence and impact on how we relate to each other, that even show biz stars are feeling the pinch—and punch!
Any small remark they make off-the-cuff in public or even in private is recorded and speedily transmitted to many other people’s eyes and ears, to hound them for weeks especially if they’re snapped up by big TV magazine shows, which are now relying more and more on viewers’ “reports,” aside from the inputs of their own stringers.
Lying in wait
This new and much more intrusive reality requires stars to be on their best behavior all the time, not just when the official media are watching—or eavesdropping!
Who’s to tell if that faceless neighbor or passerby isn’t in fact an avid social media hound who’s ever-ready to record and transmit a star’s spontaneous outburst or accidental wardrobe malfunction, for all the world to gawk at and criticize?
To make things worse, big-time or colorum paparazzi lie in wait behind bushes and even at a seemingly uninhabited window across the street from a star’s residence or hotel room, ready to shoot the very second the star decides to do something romantically spontaneous with his current partner of choice!
Worst of all, even when the star has made doubly sure that no microphone is within eavesdropping distance of his ultra-discreet person, TV networks now hire lip-readers and even body-language interpreters to divine even what has been left scrupulously unsaid!
That’s it, stars know when they’re licked, so the word’s out: (Absolutely) mum’s the word.
The latest celebrity to get into hot water due to his unintentionally loose lips is “The Voice” juror Adam Levine, who recently exclaimed on the show when one of his bets was eliminated from the singing tilt, “I hate this country!”
He didn’t even shout the complaint—in fact, he merely muttered it under his breath—but, loudly enough for his microphone to pick it up and instantly transmit it worldwide!
Spontaneous
It was one of those spontaneous outbursts that, the second the words leave the speaker’s lips, he attempts to grab them back in mid-air, and stuff them back into his mouth again.
But, of course, it was too late for Levine, the deed had been done, the words had been said, and he probably knew that he would get a lot of flak for it!
Well, all the “haters” out there certainly didn’t disappoint him. Instead of being more understanding (who hasn’t thoughtlessly lost his temper in public, anyway?), they really let him have it, saying that if he didn’t like how things were done in the United States, he should probably just leave the country.
Levine did try to do some damage control, but the haters were unmoved for a couple of days—until they found another and hotter stellar sinner to excoriate, (there’s one born every day) and all was well with his world again.
Maddening
Aside from Levine, other stars can learn a valuable lesson from his saddening and maddening encounter with the now pervasive powers of the social media:
They have to live public and private lives of absolute perfection! But since that simply can’t be done, they have to be quick with the abject apology before the teapot tempest turns into a howling super-cyclone.