The American singing competition television series that you thought was done for, for sure this time, is back and more controversial than ever!
Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, and Katy Perry are judges for this season's "American Idol" but one of the individuals, a self-proclaimed feminist, has brought some extra attention to the show by kissing one of the contestants without consent!
In light of the #MeToo movement, I propose this contestant should be eligible for the #HimToo badge. If equality is what we want, it means equality for all and this means guys are to be equally respected too. We cannot have double standards.
Benjamin Glaze, a peppy 19-year-old, arrived at the contest with plans to simply perform a song in hopes that he can make it big in Hollywood one day, but things quickly turned towards a different direction, and he got his first taste of the sexual-misconduct-scandal city sooner than he could have imagined.
Let me set the scene for you:
The bright-eyed kid walks in to meet the judges and explains that he works at an electronics store and that he loves it because "sometimes [he] gets to say hi to cute girls [when they check out]."
Next, since Katy Perry is present, Luke Bryan asks Benjamin, "Have you kissed a girl and liked it?" To this, Benjamin replies, "No. I've never been in a relationship. I can't kiss a girl without being in a relationship." Almost on cue, Katy interjects and is ready to make things weird!
Here is what follows:
Katy: Come here buddy!
Benjamin: No way! Hold on!
Katy: Come here right now!
Benjamin: What? On the cheek?
Katy: *leans over the judge's table and places her cheek near Benjamin's face*
Benjamin: *leans in and kisses cheek*
Katy: He didn't even make the smush sound! *leans in with her cheek towards him again*
Benjamin: *leans in to kiss her cheek again*
Katy: *turns head and kisses Benjamin on the lips*
Benjamin: Katy! You didn't! *falls to the floor in disbelief*
Katy: *turns to other judges and high fives them*
If you watch the video, you might suggest, as some have said, that Benjamin does not look perturbed by the situation. Some may even say he probably liked it or that he shouldn't have kissed Katy's cheek without knowing what else could happen. Sounds almost like victim shaming does it not?
If Benjamin would have been a girl and the celebrity had been a guy, would everyone be laughing this off or would the Twitter #MeToo trend again due to this? Would the male celebrity be vilified for his actions? What would people say about the male celebrity high-fiving coworkers after non-consensually kissing an "American Idol" applicant? Would you be as willing to say that "she" was asking for it by going in to kiss the celebrity's cheek? If all the judges were setting up their cameras for the moment where a female applicant was about to get kissed, how would this have been critiqued differently?
I would suggest that if the roles were switched, the male celebrity would have been destroyed on Twitter and his career may have gone down the toilet. Of course, I do not know what would actually happen in that exact situation had the genders been switched, yet I cannot help but speculate.
Benjamin was interviewed by the New York Times afterward and stated, "I wanted to save it [his first kiss] for my first relationship. I wanted it to be special. ... I was raised in a conservative family, and I was uncomfortable immediately."
Although he does not think it was sexual harassment, it is important to think about how we perceive things when it happens to a boy versus when it happens to a girl. Would we have even cared if the girl thought this was sexual harassment had the roles been switched or would we have jumped to our own conclusions about whether this is or is not sexual harassment and demanded the celebrity be dropped from every record label?
We always have to remember, and it seems to sometimes be forgotten, but equality means equality. The good the bad and the ugly comes with it and its time to stop with these double standards.
