Love him or loathe him, Donald Trump is entertaining.
The presidential hopeful took part in the second GOP debate last night, at the Ronald Reagan Library last night (September 16) in Simi Valley, California.
Just like he did in the first GOP debate, Trump came for his critics neck. He stuck to his usual talking points that he is the best businessman ever and that is why he can “make America great again.” To start this one, Trump went right at Kentucky Senator Rand Paul with a barb about his looks and got laughs out of the audience most of the night by dissing his political opponents with his gestures and jokes.
Well, Trump’s soaring poll numbers and the billions of arguments that have been generated across social media has given rise to what’s been dubbed “offendtertainment.”
“As Twitter and blogging formats continue to grow, viewers can now force entertainers to discuss potentially offensive material,” noted Shay Wilson in an article for The Cornell Daily Sun. “Twitter users and microbloggers influence conversations around politics and comedy to nearly as great an extent as do New Yorker columnists. Through the comment section, conversations spread from one author to the offendtertained mass, which can then further debate what they do or do not find politically correct. In the Age of offendtertainment, viewers act as critical participants, tying almost instantaneous criticism into the creative.
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Trump’s hilarious attacks on his candidates is one example. Another is rapper Rebel Wilson’s failed attempt at humor during the MTV VMAs. As The Cornell Daily Sun pointed out, Wilson was presenting a VMA award, she stripped down to reveal a shirt that read “Fuck Tha Stripper Police.”
It didn’t go over well at all.
Many outlets criticized Rebel Wilson’s actions that sparked deeper conversations about politics, race and gender equality.
On a lighter offendtertainment note, just last night (September 16), singer Chris Brown kind of picked a fight online with Kanye West. Kanye just debuted his Yeezy Season 2 fashion line.
Although West is being taken serious by the fashion world – influencers like Anna Wintour, Riccardo Tisci and Andre Leon Talley were all present – Chris Brown felt the need to support a meme making fun of Kanye’s line.
There’s no way someone as experienced and media savvy as Chris Brown is, didn’t know what he was doing. In his defense, it is funny. But Kanye and his fans don’t think it is. The comments under the meme exploded on Chris Brown’s Instagram page.
The post currently has 12,000 comments where thousands of fans are making fun of the Yeezy line, while some are supporting it.
“Laud it or despise it, everyday, non-industry citizens now get to (at least partially) call the shots on where comedy and entertainment can and cannot go,” Collins wrote.
So don’t feel too guilty if you’re one of the millions of people who hide behind fake accounts and hurl insults at the famous person you love to hate.
You and those Twitter fingers are not alone in this new age of “offendedtainment.”
