They mean well. But do celebrity condolences help anyone?
The Queen went to Manchester yesterday, resplendent in a chirpy orange hat as she met bomb survivors. Amid all the horror of the week, it was oddly cheering to see that the maimed and injured children looked genuinely thrilled to meet her.
As some of the younger ones explained about pop singer Ariana Grande, hM nodded. ‘She sounds very, very good,’ she told them.
That was so charming. I wish I felt the same way about those celebrities who flocked to register their outrage and condolences about the bombing on social media.
This is now the established A-list response, even if it is hardly a fitting medium in which to express difficult and heartfelt messages of sympathy. however, that did not stop the cavalcade of stars keen to be first to publicly air their commiserations.
On Facebook, David Beckham posted that: ‘As a father and a human what has happened truly saddens me.’ his wife Victoria sent her ‘heartfelt thoughts and prayers to all those affected’.
Pop star Rihanna was ‘devastated’ and ‘praying for the beautiful souls we lost’ while Taylor Swift was ‘sending all my love’. Katy Perry was ‘praying for everyone’; harry Styles was ‘heartbroken’; and comedienne ellen DeGeneres found the whole thing ‘sad and scary’.
Olly Murs (‘shocked!’), ellie Goulding (‘sending love’) and Pixie Lott (‘we must stand together and stay strong’) all joined the frayed fray. Former Oasis frontman and Mancunian Liam Gallagher sent: ‘Love and light to all the families involved.’ Meanwhile, his brother Noel was castigated for not tweeting anything at all, which shows how fatuous the whole issue has become.
Many of those faraway stars were surely only expressing their genuine concern for the tragedy that had befallen their fellow man. however, today there appears to be no public currency in private sympathy.
Discreet, traditional methods of condolence can’t compete with tapping out a cyber-message so that everyone can see what a benevolent humanitarian you are underneath your swish cloak of fame.
CeLeBRITIeS are used to audiences, and in these moments of shared darkness they still need an audience to see and acknowledge their grief. That sounds harsh, but while I don’t doubt that their concern is indeed genuine, the tweeted celebrity condolence has become meaningless, bereft of value, more about them than us.
especially when one suspects that if the UK authorities ever did try robust preventative measures to extract and punish these terrorists, Katy, ellen, Olly and the gang would be protesting loudly about racism and personal freedoms until the end of time.
For his part, James Corden beamed in with a scripted video message from Los Angeles, where he hosts The Late Late Show. he praised ‘tight-knit’ Mancunians whose ‘spirit would grow even stronger’.
Many others have echoed this narrative and the brave, selfless behaviour of many locals has indeed been inspiring.
Yet I do think that British people would always come to help, be they from Manchester or Mousehole, Didsbury or Dundee. It is what this country does best.
Meanwhile, as the celebrities would say, my thoughts are with the bereaved families at the heart of this tragedy.
Loss is an intensely personal matter, but one can hope that it is a small comfort to know that others care about your sorrow. In any case, it is now impossible to keep the wellmeaning world at bay.
These celebrity interventionists — they mean well, but do they really help?
The only uninvited intrusion that seemed unimpeachable and truly welcome was the presence of the Queen. Anti-monarchists might quibble, but no other personage has quite the effect of her Maj, with children, parents and hospital staff all equally excited to see her.
At times of national crisis — and happiness — it still seems apt that the Queen serves as a focal point. She is personification of the British people, the sincere representation of all our anguish and concern at awful moments like this.
No celebrity can even come close. They only think that they can. And that is a tragedy, too.