Social distancing and isolation are the new normals for everyone worldwide. It’s important to stay home to yield the COVID-19 spread. So whether your new hobby is binge-watching Netflix, indoor planting, or sewing your own unique face masks… it’s key to keep yourself busy to stay sane during the quarantine. Global influencers have been emphasizing how necessary it is to stay home as well. Celebrities like the Kardashians, Ariana Grande, and Chrissy Teigen have been sharing the ways they’ve been keeping busy. Generally, this is a great idea because it’s a reminder that everyone is going through the same thing and no one’s lifestyle is spared because of fame. However, most celebrities don’t actually have a legitimate change in their lives compared to regular people. 

   People on Instagram that have verified badges (meaning Instagram has checked the authenticity of the famous person’s account) are required to have over 100,000 followers and will then get paid $1,000 for every picture they post. Once they reach 500,000 followers, they earn $3,000 for every sponsored picture posted. According to the article, “How much does Kylie Jenner earn on Instagram?” on bbc.co.uk, Kylie Jenner is paid $1.2 million for a single post. Their job as influencers is to share their lives, which they remain doing and getting paid for during quarantine. A YouTuber makes $5 per 1,000 video views, so a famous influencer like David Dobrik, who has 7.16 billion views, is really bringing in the money!

   With their pockets filled, celebrities can spend money on pretty much anything they desire. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is a famous actor and has been in government, has a room in his house dedicated to his donkey Lulu and his pony Whiskey. He recently posted a video on Twitter with Lulu and Whiskey urging people to stay in isolation. It’s quite a challenge to be able to relate to someone with a room dedicated to cute farm animals in their house. Wonder Woman star, Gal Gadot, posted a video montage of famous people singing “Imagine” by John Lennon. Their intentions were to bring hope to people during these hard times; however, it was an ironic gesture found in responses by people on Twitter. This brought a substantial uprising of questions towards the use of their wealth. People don’t want to be sung to right now, they want more ventilators and paychecks to make ends meet, which is completely understandable as the U.S. workforce continues to get laid off. 

   Feeling a little resentful of the rich and famous right now is completely understandable and you are definitely not alone. A global pandemic has encouraged so many people to be creative and find ways to connect with others; however, it’s also shown that social inequality is very much existent and demonstrated during these uncertain times. Some have done positive acts during the pandemic: for example, Rihanna donated a hefty amount of cash to her home country, Barbados. Her wallet didn’t get any lighter, though, as her thriving makeup brand ‘Fenty Beauty’ just had a bunch of new releases. 

   Another attempt to relate feelings toward self-isolation is when Drake showed us his NBA sized indoor basketball court on Instagram saying, “My life for the next however long.” This was a catastrophic failure as he recently gave a tour of his $100 million Toronto home with a beautiful hardwood basketball court and a huge skylight above it. Newly married Justin Bieber alongside Hailey Bieber went on a live with Kendall Jenner to “catch up” as they discussed many topics from quarantine. But as stated by Justin Bieber, “You know they look at us. And obviously, we’ve worked hard for where we’re at, so it’s like, you can’t feel bad for the things we have.” As if that wasn’t ignorant enough, the misunderstanding is that people are only dissing on the wealthy right now because of their epic fails of trying to be relatable. It’s good to know they think we’re all jealous though. 

   As many of our favorite tv personals and well-known faces are striving to be sympathetic and engaging, almost all efforts tend to end up going wrong. Routines don’t change and celebrities remain to collect paychecks. Their efforts seemingly malfunction, but the counterpoint is straight-forward; people continue to be brought together by matching opinions about the wealthy. As well as their never-ending memes inspired by celebrities making fools of themselves during the quarantine…  so in an unpredictable manner, the endeavors of today’s big names ended up bringing us together!