THE BIGGEST CELEBRITY SOCIAL MEDIA SENSATIONS
CELEBRITIES have millions of followers on various social media platforms. In 2020, some of the stars managed to gain more traction than others owing to controversial statements they made as well as important announcements.
Here’s a list of some of the year’s biggest social media celebrity news and scandals
KARAN JOHAR
Soon after Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in June, many celebrities expressed their grief on social media. Karan was one of them. But the tribute didn’t go down too well with the late actor’s fans amidst the whole nepotism debate.
The film-maker, who has worked with many young stars like Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Ananya Panday, was slammed for casting celebrities’ children and not talented outsiders like Sushant. In fact, Karan continues to be targeted online. Whenever he posts about his personal or professional life on social media, Sushant’s fans remind Karan about the late actor. BTS
With a strong “army” of fans constantly backing them, the South Korean boy band are generally among the biggest topics of discussion on social media. This year was more special as they created history. The band, comprising RM, Jin, Jimin, V, Suga and Jungkook, topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart with Dynamite.
It is their first single sung entirely in English. Fans poured out their love and celebrated the achievement by talking about it on social media platforms. A few weeks ago, they earned a 2021 Grammy Awards nomination in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category.
As much as it was a dream for the band to be nominated in a major Grammy category, it was a big moment for their admirers too. Their new single Life Goes On also bagged the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
The Black Panther star died in August after silently fighting colon cancer. The final tweet posted on his verified account announcing his demise, got as many as 7.5 million likes. Many left RIP messages including his Avengers co-star Mark Ruffalo, who commented: “It was the highest honour getting to work with you and getting to know you. What a generous and sincere human being. You believed in the sacred nature of the work and gave your all. Much love to your family. And much love from all of us left here.”
CHRIS EVANS
In September, the Captain America star posted an explicit photo by mistake. Even though it was quickly deleted, it got many reactions on social media. He didn’t immediately address it, but days later he tweeted: “Now that I have your attention … VOTE Nov 3rd!” That again became a popular tweet. It got about 1.2 million likes.
LETITIA WRIGHT
Earlier this month, the Black Panther star shared a post on a Covid-19 vaccine. The video tweeted by her featured Tomi Arayomi expressing scepticism about vaccines in general and specifically the one for the coronavirus. Netizens soon criticised her for sharing the video. She seemed to be taking all the criticism well for some time as she went on to respond to many fans’ messages. But she deleted her Instagram and Twitter accounts.
ELLIOT PAGE
The Juno star, formerly known as Ellen Page, recently came out as transgender and introduced himself as Elliot Page. The tweet got 1.8 million likes, and the news was received warmly by many. Some heaped praise on him for being an “inspiration to countless trans and non-binary people”.