Nicki Minaj arrives at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles. She has been largely considered a bad influence on young women.
Reuters/Danny Moloshok
When Bowie sang of aliens, cross-dressed, or emptied himself of colour and light, he demonstrated the power that music, fashion and performance can have in creating a landscape of endless possibility.
Cannes manages to project a level of gravitas and glitter that is the envy of its rivals the world over.
When public figures such as Cate McGregor and Caitlyn Jenner speak about trans experience, how does it serve the development of trans rights?
AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
A number of high-profile trans people have come out in recent months, such as Cate McGregor and Caitlyn Jenner. Do these big media moments help advance trans rights across society?
Nutrition celebrities often promote strict diets that eliminate entire food groups. Not only are they based on flimsy evidence, some of their advice can lead to serious harm.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is just one scientist celeb who already unofficially does the job of a science laureate.
John Roling
Declan Fahy, American University School of Communication
A bill before congress would create a science laureate position akin to the poet laureate for poetry. But some science stars are already essentially doing the job now.
Dying at 70, Cocker effectively lost one day in eight off the life expectancy the average Englishman has today.
EPA/Angelika Warmuth
Joe Cocker, the Sheffield singer who died on December 22, will always be remembered as one of the most searing, unforgettable voices of the past forty years. Ten of his best songs can be found here. “Mad…
Band Aid is an apt name, addressing the symptoms of the Ebola crisis rather than the underlying reasons.
EPA/ Hannah McKay
It really doesn’t matter if you don’t like this song. It doesn’t matter if you hate the artists. What matters is that you buy the record. So said the Irish songwriter Bob Geldof last weekend, in anticipation…
The first line of defence.
Marie Havens/Shutterstock
The fame of Lady Gaga is the stand-out phenomenon of 21st-century celebrity – the go-to example for any commentator. But in a recent interview for 60 Minutes she complained that being so famous wasn’t…
Ms Aladmuddin’s husband, actor George Clooney, has publicly suggested that the Marbles be returned.
EPA/ Alessandro Di Meo
Legal star power is being deployed in the form of the very well-known London barristers, Geoffrey Robertson QC and Amal Alamuddin, in Greece’s latest attempt to have the Elgin or Parthenon Marbles returned…
The literary laurels are no longer so lasting.
Miguel Garcia Saavedra/Shutterstock
Every October, some unsuspecting writer gets a phone call from the secretary of the Nobel Prize committee. And overnight, an averagely respected author is turned into a global literary celebrity. Quite…
Autonomy is patriarchy’s supreme foe. It suggests self-determination, power, and control, and the “selfie” is a culturally ubiquitous iteration of autonomy. The release onto the internet of hundreds of…
Jennifer Lawrence: another victim of 4chan.
Will Oliver/EPA
The powerhouse of internet virality, 4chan, has achieved notoriety, and in a spectacular way. The release of hundreds of images claiming to show a pantheon of celebrities in various compromising, or at…
Jennifer Lawrence was the victim of hacking.
Ettienne Laurent/EPA
Recent reports of celebrities having nude or risqué photos of themselves leaked online highlights the serious risk of hackers getting access to our personal pictures. While many of us take inane and uninteresting…
Clare Balding and Frankie Dettori take the challenge.
Anna Gowthorpe/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Now that every celebrity under the sun and every Facebook user has posted a video of themselves getting wet, it appears we have reached peak ice bucket. A trend that started as a drive to raise awareness…