Opinion | Hold your idols accountable. Their silence is deafening.

Taylor Swift, with her 284 million Instagram followers, has real, tangible pull. She has gravity. With her fervent followers, colloquially known as “Swifties”, she has the kind of power that genuinely influences voters. She’s spoken out against Trump, endorsed the BLM movement and endorsed two Democratic candidates in Tennessee in 2018. She was TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year — and yet, with this influence, she has not spoken about the most glaring human rights catastrophe of the 21st century.

She has yet to speak on the genocide of Palestinians that recently eclipsed 300 days, nor the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed by Israel and its supplier, the United States. The U.S. has sent over 50,000 tons — and counting — of military equipment to Israel in the last 10 months, including armored vehicles, munitions and ammunition.

These shipments have facilitated Israel’s full-scale war on Palestine, killing at least 41,546 Palestinians, 16,500 of whom were children, while a study from July placed an estimate exceeding 186,000 from starvation, rubble suffocation, contaminated water and disease. 

In its war against Palestine, Israel has attacked schools, hospitals, refugee camps, aid convoys and children. As of Aug. 28, Israel began their largest invasion of the West Bank since 2002. In this invasion, the IOF has killed 30 Palestinians and detained 17, blown up houses and blocked access to aid trucks for Palestinians in refugee camps, killed journalists, bulldozed neighborhoods and sewage networks — leaving 80% of residents without water — and deployed snipers on rooftops.

Palestinians are begging people to not forget about them, to not forget about their suffering. They know that the American media cycle will soon drown them out and are pleading for us to keep raising awareness and keep fighting for them. 

The American people cannot forget about them, and many of us are doing all we can. It becomes infuriating to think about the celebrities our nation deifies standing idly by, accumulating wealth they will never spend, turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the violence and cries of occupation, colonialism and genocide. 

Some celebrities have acted: The Weeknd, Kyrie Irving, Ramy Youssef, and Bella Hadid have all spoken out and raised awareness. 

The Weeknd donated $2.5 million in December 2023 and another $2 million in April for emergency meals. Irving began wearing the kufiya in solidarity at his press conferences and to the NBA Finals, which drew millions of viewers per game. Youssef called for a free Palestine during his SNL monologue and Hadid has famously supported her people, even at a detriment to her career. 

Yet Swift, who sits at the top of the pop culture food chain, has yet to muster a single post, tweet or speech about the atrocities that are happening under her nose. In fact, she premiered her film, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” in Israel in November, one month into the ongoing genocide. Beyoncé did the same for her “HOMECOMING” film, screened two months into the genocide.

The track record of both Swift and Beyoncé’s activism would suggest that they would speak about the horrific feminist, anti-LGBTQ and sexual violence crises in Palestine. Yet, silence. 

It’s not just them. LeBron James, the NBA’s biggest star, well known for his social justice advocacy, released a statement the morning of Oct. 8 saying “The devastation in Israel is tragic and unacceptable. The murder and violence against innocent people by Hamas is terrorism.” Continuing, he offers the “deepest condolences to Israel and the Jewish community.”

With no mention of Palestine or the suffering of Palestinians, James’ legacy as a social justice champion falls flat. He speaks about the horrific police brutality against Black and brown people in America, yet this violence is taught by the Israeli military to police departments, ICE, the FBI and CIA. James has yet to retract or edit his statement, insinuating support for the Israeli settler state.

Now, it was the day after Oct. 7, and I recognize that not everyone was aware of Occupied Palestine. To expect people’s opinions to be fully informed right after is nonsensical. But at this point, it’s inexcusable. It’s September, and this genocide continues after 335 days.

Celebrities can feign innocence and lack of knowledge all they want, but it’s disingenuous. It’s everywhere. For 10 months, Palestinians have provided us with live-streamed footage of Israeli bombardment and videos of snipers, children crying for their parents, rubble extraction efforts and more. 

It’s all over the Internet, and people are protesting in the streets worldwide. There is no excuse to not have educated yourself, or, at the very least, retweeted a tweet, made a statement, posted an Instagram story or donated. 

They are choosing to stay out of it to protect their brand, their image and their careers.  Celebrities sit on piles of money that are unspendable in one lifetime, and yet they still do not redistribute this money to those in need.

Voices like Swift, Beyoncé, James and others with large social media platforms have the power to mobilize millions of people. Whether these people are somehow unaware or need a push to get involved, seeing information on the genocide, a rally, a sit-in or protest can galvanize the nationwide movement to force Congress to enact an arms embargo and accept a ceasefire. 

It’s time for Americans to stop deifying celebrities. They are people, like you and me, just with more money and more pull. They can toss bones at charitable causes all they want, but drawing the line at genocide is plain evil and negates any semblance of “human rights” or “social justice” image they have tried to cultivate. 

As James Baldwin said, “Ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” Hold your idols accountable.

Jake Vasilias writes about the environment, social justice and sports. Write to him at jpv25@pitt.edu