Since yesterday my Facebook feed has been flooded with news that T.O.P has slipped into coma and just today there is rumour that he is slowly losing signs of living. No, I am not a fan of K-Pop. I’ve got nothing against K-Pop, it just isn’t my cup of tea. And No, I am not a fan of T.O.P. I don’t even know what he looks like and I have not heard a single song from him.
T.O.P. slipped into a coma after an apparent drug overdose. It appeared to be a long story but the gist is that in this day and age, news on celebrities dipping themselves into a multitude of turmoil from physical violence to drug overdose have become a normalcy. T.O.P. just happens to be a well-celebrated singer who is too young to be facing death from an overdose that a lot of celebrities are struggling with and that consequently attracted attentions from the public in a way that is unprecedented.
I don’t idolise celebrities. Ya, there are a few that I quite like, and the only one I truly like and follow each album is Lady Gaga. Yup. Lady Gaga is eccentric, a human piece of oddity and was a mischievous and rebellious kid from a deeply conservative Christian family that has gained worldwide attractions by sending disturbing ripples on a global scale. But she can sing. Watch any of her live performance and you can tell she is a walking talent that can sing without any instrumental equipment or technological manipulations. That’s why I like her - I admire her talents. And that’s also why she gains respect from the entertainment industry not many could gain.
But I don’t idolise people to such a point I implore them to hold concerts in Malaysia. I don’t wish singers I like to hold autography sessions or I beg them to go on television shows or participate in reality game programmes so that I can watch them seemingly happily playing games, or to watch them seemingly enthusiastically go on certain events as an invited singer so that they can help garner audiences, or to watch them sit in an interview, answering awkward questions about questions bordering on privacy intrusion just because the fans love to hear every personal details on them, or to wish them post a picture on Instagram/Facebook on a daily basis so that I can have new posters to paste on my bedroom wall, or even so that I can, through the pictures they posted, spy on what cosmetics they are using, what food they like to eat, what brand of shirts they are wearing et cetera.
Celebrities are humans. They deserve to be treated as humans. Lots of celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, got embroiled into troubles and drugs simply because the expectations from the public is too overwhelming and they have to sacrifice their personal lives to entertain and please their fans because of the fact that they literally live for their support. Australian singer Sia said she likes to cover her visage so that no one can recognise her so that she can appreciate her privacy. Can you blame her? How many reports have there been about celebrities’ privacy intrusion to the point restraining orders have to be issued? I used to read an article that said a Korean girl singer group has no rest, worked 365 days a year because of tight schedule. I watched an interview on Lu Yu with Hu Ge, and Hu Ge said the pressure he felt was so enormous he almost gave up and looked where he is now - he decided to get a break from the publicity and study in USA, but even while studying he is constantly spied on to the point his manager has to implore his fans to restrain themselves.
Reality game programmes have always been barrelled with allegations that everything is staged so that the audience can treat it as a genuine programme. Celebrities should deliberately lose. Celebrities should do this, or do that. Everything is allegedly staged, just so the audience would come back every week to watch the same programme - and that generates income the stations cannot resist. This gives humongous pressure on celebrities. Remember Lee Chong Wei in 2012 Olympics? Where he fell to the ground losing the potential first gold for Malaysia, and he apologised because apparently he has the hopes of Malaysians on his shoulders? He still delivered a silver, but he felt he let down Malaysians. That kind of pressure, do you think it is enjoyable?
Celebrities are human. Yes, we know you love them. We know they are why you have something to look forward to. We know they are why you can de-stress after a stressful day. But please recognise that they are humans. They have feelings. They have privacy. They, like us, need a private space of their own. If there is someone who constantly follow you everywhere and know where you go, where you live, what food you like or what shoes you wear, you would have lodged a police report claiming a stalker is tagging you. If in a job you are constantly asked to attend meetings and have piles of seamless work, you would have begged your boss to lesson your workload so that you get a room to breathe. If you go to a shopping market wanting to buy only a bread but keep getting stopped by promoters who are persistent of having you try their samples despite multiple respectful rejections, you would have got angry and probably yelled at them. Now put yourself in the celebrities' shoes, and tell me why everything you find annoying isn’t applicable to the celebrities?
Give them a break. Yes, they survive by entertaining their fans and the audiences. But they are also a living being who, like us, breathe, get tired, and are capable of feeling pressured. If you like your idols, set a boundary. Restrain yourself. You don’t want to love your idol that much, that you end up destroying their lives.
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