BUT BETWEEN THE THREAT SHE POSES TO BLACKS AND THE VICTIMOLOGY...:

Every generation has its share of narcissistic celebrities. But in the past, that sense of entitlement was leavened with what might be called noblesse oblige. It wasn't that long ago that baseball players were expected to be role models. I'm sure that earlier celebrities had just as many odd and occasionally dangerous ideas as some modern ones, but whether through a sense of responsibility to their fans or fear of them, they usually kept them to themselves. You can't imagine, say, Lawrence Tureaud, casually passing along anti-vaccination rumors.

That's no longer true. Today's celebrities feel justified, even obligated, to pass along their every stray thought without considering the impact on the wider world. Because they live largely in bubbles of adoring fans, they are often convinced they can do no wrong. It's the Dunning-Kruger Effect on steroids.

And needless to say, these celebrities seldom take well to criticism.

This is a real problem and it's obviously not limited to the issue of vaccine hesitancy. Social media is a breeding ground for conspiracy theories and misinformation that are too often amplified by people who ought to know better. Social media gives modern celebrities unprecedented direct connections with people who already like and trust them. Out of the top 150 Twitter accounts, 109 of them belong to entertainment and sports figures. It's one thing when your Uncle Jim starts babbling about vaccine conspiracy theories and the "agenda of the CDC." It's another thing entirely if your Uncle Jim is Jim Carrey and has 14 million twitter followers.

Some people seem to believe that Joy Reid was wrong for publicly castigating Minaj and that it should have been viewed as a teachable moment. But Nikki Minaj should not need to be "taught." She's a world figure with more Twitter followers than Fox News--or Pope Francis--not an errant 14-year-old. The suggestion that someone in her position should be granted a pass for spreading misinformation about something as basic and important as COVID vaccines is both patronizing and dangerous.

The truth is that Minaj's worst offense wasn't tweeting about exploding testicles. It was a tweet that was far more damaging and far less clickbaity. Worse, it's the kind of casual and deadly misinformation that is spread on social media thousands of times a day. In response to one of her fans pointing out that the vaccine "prevents you getting serious symptoms" and that "non vaccinated people are 11x more likely to pass away from covid than vaccinated." Minaj responded. "Babe. That's not true. I had the exact same symptoms as ppl with the damn vaccine." This little nugget of death got almost 23,000 likes and over 17,000 retweets.

Again, Minaj is completely wrong. Vaccines do dramatically reduce the seriousness of COVID infections, even if you do catch the disease after being vaccinated. This basic fact has been shouted from the rooftops for months now. Someone who speaks directly to 22 million people, has a responsibility to know this kind of thing.

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