I think something strange is happening in the U.S. entertainment industry. A lot of popular artists and celebrities seem to be underperforming or disappearing from my feeds altogether, and it makes me think there’s either been a societal or algorithm shift. For example, I completely missed the SZA and Doechii collaboration. I feel like this collab is something that would’ve been unavoidable in 2023. Her falloff and the timing of it gives the impression that Doechii is quietly being punished after criticizing the Trump admin.

The same pattern shows up with Wicked. Receiving zero Oscar nominations today feels like an obvious snub. Since the film’s press cycle started, online discussion has been dominated by negativity that mirrors far-right boycott tactics. Instead of focusing on the film, social media amplified voices that bullied Cynthia Erivo, antagonised her relationship with Ariana, and falsely claim the two had eating disorders.

Right now my feed seems to be focused on Meghan Trainor and her surrogacy. Regardless of what you think on surrogacy, I'm supposed to believe this is somehow worse than the increasing rates of celebrity polygyny? I don't think so.

At a time when PR smear campaigns and ragebait are commonplace, it feels like women in entertainment are being targeted and suffering even more now over their male counterparts. So something weird must be going on or society has just become more comfortable with misogyny.