Kristen Bell has been in the public eye longer than Neptune High has kept secrets — and if you’re familiar with her 2004 breakout role in “Veronica Mars” — you’ll know that’s not a short amount of time. Bell has since gained notoriety for her roles as the narrator on “Gossip Girl,” the voice of Anna in the “Frozen” franchise and the lead in NBC’s mega-hit “The Good Place.” On the whole, perhaps unlike most who have grown up in the public eye, Bell has used her platform responsibly and even actively championed a range of progressive causes.
Yet, last week, she posted a seemingly all-white dinner gathering on Instagram featuring Hollywood A-listers and media heavyweights that sparked backlash. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, it is the latest example of how our collective addiction to public roasting on the internet can send an alienating message that even those who try hard to do better can’t ever do enough.
As a non-white person, the makeup of any setting I’m in is something that I notice. Recently, for example, a friend brought me along for an evening of jazz at the Polish Ambassador’s Residence. Upon arriving, I noted that, of several dozen guests, I was one of the only people of color in the room. What quickly became clear, however, was the reality that perhaps 99 percent of the audience was Polish — and I was honored to be included in their intimate cultural moment. Not every gathering can, or even should, offer a perfectly cast range of racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Still, it would be a vast oversimplification of Bell’s event to dismiss it as just a dinner among friends. Those in attendance were also the elites of Hollywood and media — two domains where diversity is sorely lacking. No doubt, despite the prevailing narrative that efforts towards diversity and inclusion have overreached, the reality is most spaces of power and privilege remain disproportionately white. As someone who has advised a range of non-profit and progressive causes on social media, it is hard to imagine a star like Bell (or her team) wouldn’t note such a “glaring” omission.
However, while these observations are valid, I can’t help but feel there is an element of over-scrutiny at play. “They don’t have a single Black friend,” Crooked Media host Akilah Hughes commented. “Photo needs a lil affirmative action,” joked one social media user. “There are no Black or Brown people. That’s my takeaway,” read one reply with over 2,400 likes.
In the larger scheme of things, this was one dinner, in Idaho, with a group of people who knew each other socially or from working together. Bell has posted a range of photos that feature the diversity of her projects and social circle. The controversy begs the question: “Does every single photo or interaction she shares with the public need to stand on its own?” I’d argue that standard is both impractical and, perhaps, even harmful. Not every social gathering can be a Benetton ad. Indirectly, of course, one might argue that exclusionary socializing among privileged groups perpetuates that privilege in professional spaces (the classic example of golf often being a “boys only” networking activity to the detriment of women in the workplace). But should the cast of “Friends,” some of whom have acknowledged the ’90s hit TV show’s diversity shortcomings, never take another group photo? Certainly, a holistic view is more honest and productive — we should call out patterns of exclusion, not single instances.
My aim is not to downplay the importance of the dialogue this photo has prompted. By nature of their public personas, celebrities put out content for public consumption and scrutiny — and everyone is entitled to their opinion on that content. Yet, those working towards a more equal and diverse reality must also acknowledge that each inflammatory comment calling someone out doesn’t exist in isolation. They are voiced in the public square and have the potential to alienate well-intentioned individuals genuinely striving for improvement.
While it’s not likely Jake Tapper and Jennifer Aniston spent much time combing through the comments about the dinner, you can bet thousands, if not millions, of white folks at home have observed the callouts and been left wondering how they could ever meet the purportedly impossible expectation set out – that every room, table or space should be diverse. While not a defense given the urgent crisis of racism our country faces, this is the sort of helpless sentiment that causes some valuable would-be allies to instead stay quiet on the sidelines, or worse.
Internet pile-ons can be powerful. Accountability culture has allowed the public to understand our collective ability to demand better and limit the platforms of those who abuse them to perpetuate bigotry and misinformation. Yet, in feeding our addiction to online backlash, we dilute the power of our collective voice and lend credence to inaccurate caricatures that seek to silence and dismiss us as over-woke “cancel culture” warriors.
Just as Veronica Mars wouldn’t solve a mystery based on a single clue, we should remember to consider the broader narrative before jumping to conclusions about one dinner.