Hollywood’s glitterati are increasingly getting unwanted star treatment. Scrappy digital media eagerly acts as a megaphone spraying indiscretions like a firehose.
Online media blasts alleged Hollywood’s green-climate hypocrisy as evidenced by the tsunami of garbage after Sunday’s Oscar awards ceremony. Pictured above is a Facebook screen grab of Emma Stone eating from a cardboard box and separately garbage strewn in the empty auditorium after the Oscars.
“Fans’ fury over ‘dirty’ celebrities is just getting started,” says a California Post/New York Post article expose by Zain Khan. “A picture showing trash, including discarded water bottles and snack packets, strewn across Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre has gone viral on social media — sparking backlash over the hypocrisy of the elite, who grandstand about the environment.”
It can be argued the expose is exaggerated. But the Oscars event is opulent with little visible restraint that shows a green sensibility. Aren’t quickly disposed cardboard paper boxes and plastic drink bottles supposed to be a no-no?
The California Post headline asks: “Where’s all that ‘protect the planet’ energy now?” From what is an online arm of India’s largest newspaper, a Times of India post waxes “Dolby Theatre Chaos Sparks Online Outrage” about climate-concern duplicity.
The days of overwhelmingly reverential coverage by complaint legacy media are fading away. Online is a brash and relentless “truth squad.” Look for Hollywood stars to increasingly be denigrated by a thousand cuts online.
Stars traditionally have been put on pedestals, and were famously coddled in Hollywood’s golden era of the 1930s-1950s. In the MGM studio’s heyday, legendary publicists Howard Strickling and Eddie Mannix were known as the Fixers who could quash scandal stories to maintain star images. Because MGM’s stable of star was so large, journalists were loath to cross its publicists for fear of being cut off from star access. This era is celebrated by Josh Brolin portraying Mannix in the 2016 satire “Hail, Caesar!” starring George Clooney.
These days, no publicist is as all powerful to exert subtle control and digital media is diverse, with many outlets unconcerned about access or their own images. In some cases, the lightning bolts are hurled by posts from the general public (so-called reader comments), whose missives get elevated by digital media’s broad reach.
For example, Matt Neglia of NextBestPicture is credited with igniting the recent not-so-green-Oscars kerfuffle with a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Elsewhere, online media fanned flames of controversy about casting a Latina actress for Walt Disney Studios’ 2025 live-action “Snow White” and political pronouncements made by the actress; the movie bombed in the aftermath. Fans and influencers ripped Disney for changes in 2025 live-action “Lilo & Stitch,” compared with its 2022 animation predecessor, in what was a divisive detour from fluffy studio publicity.
Allegations of smear campaigns in digital media are at the center of the bitter and ongoing libel legal battle between two stars of 2024 romance-drama “It Ends with Us.” It’s a long list that is constantly growing.
Digital media is like a wildfire that is unpredictable with scattered, surprising flare-ups. Meanwhile, traditional media is more focused, thoughtful and has traditionally been restrained because of a desire to be seen as responsible journalism. Back-in-the-day, legacy media alone set the cultural agenda for public discussion, but now onliners share that power. Even the audience members can be opinion molders in digital if their posts gain traction.
Legacy print and TV media have prospered by simply serving up glamor and radiant celebrity. In contrast, upstarts online are smallish and crave attention, which often points them to embracing controversy.
The California Post article has another journalism dimension. Traditional-media mogul Rupert Murdoch launched print publication of the California Post in January. Murdoch’s New York Post is one of the nation’s largest print newspapers, and is noted for its brash, tabloid style.
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