Celebrity Responses to the Coronavirus Outbreak and Quarantine

Everything Celebrities are Doing to Ease the Stress of this Difficult Time for Their Fans

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The logo for Miley Cyrus’ Instagram Live talk show titled “Bright Minded: Live with Miley”

Taylor Stern, Staff Reporter

Since the beginning of quarantine, many celebrities have been antagonized for their neglect to the severity of this pandemic, praised for their donations to finding a cure, and celebrated for the entertainment they’re providing for the masses during this time. 

Celebrities have been in the limelight during quarantine because a lot of people think it’s the responsibility of wealthy people to donate what they can during this time so they turn all eyes to those with fame. They’ve also been highlighted notoriously and made into memes about celebrities complaining about stay-at-home orders despite living in 14 million dollar homes and acting like we are “all in this together.”  At the end of the day, though, many celebrities are using their platform for good and doing many admirable things as a response to the current world health crisis we’re in. 

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are among the people being praised for their contributions. The couple said that they were donating $1 million to two organizations to help both older adults and low income families whom they said were being “brutally impacted” by Covid-19. The money donated by Lively and Reynold’s was split between Feeding America and Food Banks Canada with the hopes to help those in need and urge others to do their part in helping the world right now even if it’s by simply staying home. 

Many celebrities have been performing live stream concerts of their own as well as joint concert efforts like the One World: Together at Home event that Lady Gaga did in collaboration with Global Citizen featuring artists like Billie Eilish, Elton John, Taylor Swift, the Rolling Stones and many others. Some other celebrities have connected with their fans through different ways like Amy Adams, Jennifer Garner, and Dolly Parton who began helping by reading children’s stories over live streams and on YouTube for kids stuck at home. Garner and Adams have teamed up with Save the Children and No Kid Hungry “to ensure children around the world have the resources and food they need to grow up healthy.”

But not everyone has received the same approval. Vanessa Hudgens in particular has gotten a lot of ridicule over some things she said in a livestream on her Instagram account. When complaining about the Coachella Music Festival getting cancelled, Hudgens said “it’s a virus, I get it. Like, I respect it. But at the same time, like, even if everybody gets it, like, yeah, people are gonna die, which is terrible but, like, inevitable?” The singer and actress later made a statement about how seriously she’s taking the statement and how what she said had been taken out of context. After her apology, she urged her 3.8 million followers to stay inside, stay safe, and stay healthy.

A few weeks after her online incident, Hudgens joined the cast of High School Musical for a Disney Family Sing-Along that aired on ABC on April 16 2020. The program was hosted by Ryan Seacrest and featured musical performances of songs from popular Disney films which were performed by musicians from their homes and edited together. The special also included public service announcements raising awareness for the efforts of Feeding America during the coronavirus pandemic.

Celebrities like Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato have pledged money towards different organizations with every purchase of their merchandise and music that people buy. Talk show hosts have all begun making their shows remotely in order to continuously provide their form of entertainment. Joining the crew of talk show hosts during this quarantine is singer Miley Cyrus. Cyrus has been doing her part to keep her fans’ and followers’ spirits up by coming out with her new Instagram Live show titled Bright Minded. Every week, Cyrus has famous guest stars join her including Hailey Bieber, Rita Ora, and former Hannah Montana co-star Emily Osment among many others. Complete with it’s own logo, set, and even theme song, Bright Minded: Live with Miley airs every weekday Monday-Friday at 11:30 am pacific standard time. 

Despite being human and enduring the same roller coaster of emotions that quarantine is putting us all through, many celebrities have been doing their best to entertain, support, and be there for their fans. From releasing new music, making admirable donations, and just actively talking to their fans on social media, celebrity responses to the Coronavirus outbreak are reaching great distances.