MAZZIOTTI: Racism has met its match–celebrities

In case you forgot, when Hollywood’s A-list celebrities aren’t walking the red carpet, getting hair and makeup done for a photoshoot, or learning their lines for their next big role, they are righting the wrongs in our society and making a difference in the world. 

They are the world’s leading activists for social change, and are always there for us when we need them most.

I like to think of them as our modern-day superheroes.

Their “Imagine” video saved us by being the beacon of light we all needed in our darkest moments during quarantine.

When thousands of people were dying around the world, Gal Gadot’s voice singing, “Imagine there’s no heaven,” truly lifted my spirits as I saw the death toll rise hourly. The last thing I want to imagine is a heaven for all of the dying to go to. 

The “Imagine” video convinced the world that we don’t need a heaven, all we need is a compilation video of celebrities in their million dollar mansions telling us it will be alright. 

So when Sarah Paulson and Aaron Paul saw the injustices in the world surrounding systemic racism, they knew they needed to do something to save us all. 

This is when 13 of our brightest celebrities put their heads together to come up with a way to fix racism, and they decided that what the world needed was another compilation video. 

But not just any compilation video, a black and white compilation video to show everyone just how serious they were about changing the very racist framework our society has been built on for centuries. 

It is a big task, but someone has got to do it.

The video begins with Sarah Paulson, Aaron Paul, and everyone not questioning at all why Kesha is there, as they bravely profess to the world that they ‘take responsibility’ for all the extremely racist things they have done in the past. 

How admirable. 

Most would hide this from the world, but having Justin Theroux lay it all out there that he apologizes for making ‘not-so funny jokes’ towards people of colour is really the confession society needed to eradicate racism. 

Racism has truly met its match. 

The altruistic motives of Hollywood’s elite, like Stanley Tucci who has been in 92 movies and has memorized countless scripts and long monologues, was too distraught over our social climate today to memorize his two lines for the “I Take Responsibility” video. 

It is clear Tucci and others in the video like Debra Messing are reading their lines off a computer screen or a piece of paper nearby, but we all know that when actors are emotionally invested in a cause like the Black Lives Matter movement, memorization becomes almost impossible. 

The video ends with Aaron Paul staring down the camera just like Jesse Pinkman would if he dived into his own meth supply.

The finale is Paul’s best performance as he intensely stares down the camera and asks everyone watching to “call out hate, step up, and take action.” 

With every passing second of this video, one racist realizes the error of their ways, takes down the Confederate Flag on their front lawn, and joins an anti-racism protest. 

Not all of the brave men and women in the ‘I take responsibility’ video were given an honourable mention, so I’d like to list them here for you now. They all deserve immense praise for having the gumption to be on the frontlines of the anti-racism movement. 

Aaron Paul, Sarah Paulson, Julianne Moore, Kesha, Stanley Tucci, Bethany Joy Lenz, Kristen Bell, Justin Theroux, Mark Duplass, Bryce Dallas Howard, Debra Messing, Ilana Glazer, Piper Perabo.

Some may say the intentions of these celebrities was not to fight the good fight, but to gain attention because they haven’t been able to be in front of a camera in months and no one is paying attention to them since COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, but to them I say you are seriously mistaken. 

Hollywood’s stars are the most selfless humanitarians the world knows, just watch Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi commercial. 

The ‘I Take Responsibility’ video has proven that in times of need, we must turn to society’s better half for guidance. If anyone can help our society navigate, conquer, and abolish racism, it’s our top performing actors and musicians.