By Rebecca Jennings, a features writer at New York Magazine – Vulture.com – Mar. 18, 2025

imagine there’s no (stupid, rich, democrat-voting) celebrities

My cmnt: I post this here because I thought my readers will find it interesting, as I did. I was entirely unaware of Gal Gadot’s cringe-worthy video, don’t typically read much about celebrities’ lives (except Traylor and Harry Potter), certainly did not care what they thought about the democrat-Leftist-inspired Covid-19 response nonsense (i.e., “we’re all gonna die!”, wear a mask in the shower and while driving alone, isolate at home (worst possible thing to do and utterly stupid), keep children out of school for two years, and taking the nearly useless and very risky mRNA shots.) While I do not agree with Vulture’s Covid assessments in these articles I do agree with their pointing out the uselessness of most of what celebrities do.

My cmnt: Whenever I hear John Lennon’s famous “Imagine” song I want to throw up. It is typically sung by one or more very wealthy, very safe, completely out-of-touch, democrat-voting, stupid Liberals. Everyone in this video lives in a gated community, in free America (no thanks to them), with millions in the bank and occupying large homes located on massive, carbon-spewing estates. Capitalism and America made them fabulously wealthy, safe and famous; even as they bemoan the very concepts and institutions that gave them everything. They are not just hypocrites, they are lunatics.

My cmnt: Allow me (I will of course do what I want with my own website) to indulge in a rewrite of Lennon’s “imagine” song, sung to the tune of “imagine”.

Imagine there’s no John Lennon – It’s easy if you try – No boorish singing – Quiet in the sky. Imagine all the people – struggling to be free – Of, of, his songs. Imagine there’re no recording studios – It isn’t hard to do – No royalties to sue for – And no copyrights, too. Imagine all the people – Livin’ life in peace – You. You may say I’m a dreamer – But I’m not the only one – I hope someday you’ll join us – And the world will be as one. Imagine no piles of money – I wonder if you can – No need to mistreat Julian – The brother of Sean, man. Imagine no Yoko Ono – And lovin’ both your sons – You. You may say I’m a dreamer – But I’m not the only one – I hope someday you’ll join us – And the world will be as one.

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Exactly five years ago, the world united in squeamish horror against the dozen famous people who decided that the best way to deal with the rapidly worsening pandemic was to sing a John Lennon song on Instagram. Nobody wants to revisit the month of March 2020, but in honor of “Imagine‘“s wood anniversary, I bravely rewatched the entire three-minute video, which, to creator Gal Gadot’s credit, is still available to view on her Instagram page. Lest you’ve blocked this particular artifact of internet culture from your memory, it begins by Gadot sighing into her camera: “Hey guys, day six in self-quarantine, and I gotta say that these past few days got me feeling a bit philosophical.” The idea, she says, came to her after seeing a video of an Italian man playing “Imagine”on his balcony. “Doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, we’re all in this together,” she says before celebrities ranging from Zoe Kravitz to Mark Ruffalo break into stilted, broken song.

It’s still an excruciating watch, not least because of the hindsight that comes from knowing how much worse everything ultimately got. But despite the immediate, visceral backlash it received — for its smarm, for its tone-deafness, both literally and metaphorically, for its fundamental emptiness (what’s the point of rich people making it about themselves if they’re not contributing any money to solving the problem?) — there are some redemptive moments: James Marsden reminds us that he does in fact have a great voice. Sia and Leslie Odom Jr. really go for it in a way you sort of have to commend. Pedro Pascal is … there?

More than anything, though, the video is cringey not only because of its vacuity but because it recalls a distinctly 2010s era of social media, one when famous people simply being in the same room together was cause for universal applause. Consider Ellen DeGeneres’s star-studded 2014 Oscars selfie, which became the most reposted tweet in history despite being an ad for Samsung and was met with squeals of delight from the rest of the internet. There was still an element of novelty in celebrities coming together to show their “normal” side on Instagram and Twitter while simultaneously endearing themselves to audiences who found them more relatable than ever. That 2010s optimism continued past the 2016 election, when Hollywood’s A-list coalesced around preventing Trump from taking office, appeared at protests, and, most famously, popularized the Me Too movement.

Something changed the same month “Imagine” was released. Though more of us were spending our entire lives online than ever, just posting — it became clear — wasn’t enough. A few months later, when white celebrities and regular folks alike tried to express their support for Black Lives Matter in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the deluge of blank black Instagram squares was almost immediately recognized as detrimental to the original cause, and the cutesy infographics and social-justice slideshows being shared en masse were criticized for the same reasons “Imagine” was.

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that, in the five years since, disdain for celebrities — at least the traditional Hollywood class — has increased alongside a deep sense of nihilism over an individual’s power to resist the forces of technocracy or authoritarianism. Famous people have been notoriously quiet since Trump’s reelection, and no similar celebrity-led posting strategy emerged during the California wildfires or DOGE’s torpedoing of the federal government. Some who have spoken out on behalf of Palestinians have been fired or lost work. Even when celebs have attempted to influence elections, such as the many who stumped for the Harris campaign, it hasn’t resulted in much: At this year’s Golden Globes, Nikki Glaser joked, “You’re all so famous, so talented, so powerful. I mean, you could really do anything — except tell the country who to vote for.”

If there is a case to be made for “Imagine,” it’s that celebrities have maybe taken the wrong lesson from it — that it is better to say nothing than to risk being laughed at. Gadot has admitted in multiple interviews that the video was “in poor taste,” and at least three others attempted to distance themselves from the project shortly thereafter. Although it’s objectively a good thing that famous people have wised up to how, in times of crisis, nobody really wants to hear from them unless they’re willing to help materially, there’s something nostalgic about the idea that, at the very least, the rich and famous once pretended to care.

Update: An earlier version of this post contained language that could be deemed insensitive. That language has been removed.

Gal Gadot Says Her ‘Imagine’ Video ‘Didn’t Transcend,’ Which, Yes

By Justin Curto, who covers music, TV, and celebrity for Vulture – Oct. 14, 2020

Photo: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock

Remember back in the middle of March, when Gal Gadot and an array of friends made a video of them lip-syncing to John Lennon’s “Imagine” that was supposed to, like, cure the coronavirus or something? Mid-March feels like lifetimes ago, but who are we kidding — how could you forget that mess? Well, clear a spot in your brain right next to the video to file away Gadot’s response. In a cover story for Vanity Fair, tied to her questionably upcoming role in Wonder Woman 1984, Gadot explained of the video, “Sometimes, you know, you try and do a good deed and it’s just not the right good deed. I had nothing but good intentions and it came from the best place, and I just wanted to send light and love to the world.” Gadot didn’t elaborate on what good that deed was supposed to accomplish before throwing her friend Kristen Wiig, who’s “like the mayor of Hollywood,” under the bus for helping assemble the guest list. Then, she added, “I can only say that I meant to do something good and pure, and it didn’t transcend.”

It didn’t transcend. A phrase that will now be echoing in our heads for weeks. It didn’t transcend what, exactly? Who cares? We’re using this excuse for everything now. Late to a Zoom meeting? Sorry, it didn’t transcend. Left some dishes in the sink? Oh, looks like they didn’t transcend. This article wasn’t funny? Guess it just didn’t transcend.

Are the Celebrities Okay?

By Rachel Handler, a features writer at Vulture and New York – Vulture.com – Mar. 27, 2020

Photo: Vulture, Vanessa Hudgens/Instagram, Priyanka Chopra/Instagram, Gal Gadot/Instagram and Gwyenth Paltrow/Instagram

Absolutely nobody on Earth is in a “good” place right now, but it seems the celebrities are in a particularly surreal one. Trapped at home, devoid of many of the luxuries to which they’re accustomed — public attention, a sense of permanent elevation from the mortal plane, pap walks, Uber Black rides to ModelFit classes, Stormi Webster’s uncanny birthday parties — they’re finally Just Like Us, minus the fact that they can get tests for a deadly disease and we can’t. And though a lot of them are handling it with grace and humility and endearing weirdness, many are … not. As Madonna put it from her floral Instagram milk bath, “That’s the thing about COVID-19. It doesn’t care about how rich you are, how famous you are, how funny you are, how smart you are, where you live, how old you are, what amazing stories you can tell,” she said, referring to it as “the great equalizer.” “What’s terrible about it,” she added, “is what’s great about it.”

While an infinitesimally small part of me empathizes with the Madonnas of the world, who are clearly reeling at the revelation that they have fallible human bodies, most of me can’t help but feel a quiet rage every time somebody like Vanessa Hudgens takes to Instagram Live, denounces mass death as “inevitable,” and flounces off camera. Especially when there are other rich, famous people doing their best to help out, whether it’s via large amounts of money (the preferred route; here’s a great list of who’s helped out financially so far), scalding hot instructions to stay home (Ariana Grande, social distancing icon), drunken cooking demonstrations (thank you, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend), or genuinely sweet serenades (please carry on, JoJo). In hopes of gently persuading the Vanessas and Madonnas and Evangelines to get a grip and either offer free flutist content or begin donating stacks of cash, I’ve decided to create an alignment chart for the quarantined celebrities currently having a time on social media. I’ll continue to update it as things get weirder.