Protests targeting popular German personalities - Those opposed to Israel face exclusion.
People who back the riot movement are urging influencers and celebrities who don't speak out against Israel to be shut out. Under this pressure, several stars are worried about their popularity and are making questionable statements.
How the tension is being built up
The "blockout" idea is straightforward: no posts, no videos, no advertising deals. Those who stop platforms like X, TikTok, and Instagram will no longer see anything from certain celebrities. This decreases their income and should make them reconsider. After all, social media interactions are big money.
"Let them eat cake"
The campaign started after the last "Met Gala" on May 6, an annual fundraiser for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met for short) in New York City.
Influencer Haley Baylee (31) attended this event in an elaborate floral dress resembling France's Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), and she filmed herself quoting the famous Queen's phrase "Let them eat cake." While this saying, although not historically accurate, became a symbol of the elite's indifference to people's everyday problems, Ms. Baylee was unaware that around the same time, Israeli soldiers were advancing into parts of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, carrying out military operations on the night of May 7.
The digital guillotine
The responses to Baylee's message didn't take long, and they were fast and brutal. The hashtag "#Digitine" - a modern reference to the guillotine, the highly symbolic guillotine of the French Revolution - soon sparked a wave of anger.
TikTok user @ladyfromtheoutside started the "Blockout 2024" movement. Her goal: to block celebrities, influencers, and wealthy individuals who don't help. "We gave them their platforms. Now we're taking them back," she explained in a video viewed over 2.5 million times.
The internet mob spares no one
Whether Beyoncé, Shakira, Selena Gomez, or Taylor Swift - the angry internet mob is spreading worldwide and targeting celebrities from all walks of life. Businesswoman and Met Gala regular Kim Kardashian and her family are on almost every list.
The anger has pursued Kardashian all the way to Hamburg: at the Online Marketing Rockstars Festival, the 43-year-old was interrupted by shouts of "Free Palestine."
"I have empathy for people in Israel and those in Palestine. I have friends on both sides," Kardashian tried to placate.
Stars are afraid of losing their following
The nine-minute video of Haley Baylee, in which she emphasized that she hadn't received a real invitation to the Met Gala and primarily spoke to guests as they left a hotel, shows just how intense the pressure is. "I'm not part of the elite. I'm a regular person," Baylee stressed.
She also addressed why she hadn't spoken out about Palestine publicly: "I'm not informed enough to speak about it in a meaningful and educational way."
German influencers under scrutiny
Meanwhile, more and more German influencers are being blacklisted by anti-Israel activists. For example, user Seinab shared her personal block recommendations on the meta platform Threads.
Even this silence - a sign of the enormous pressure on celebrities.
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Source: symclub.org