Celebrities are known for their outreach activities but are unable to mask their activities from public eye even if they wanted to. The prying eyes of the camera will chase and haunt after them to the very depths of Timbuktu if possible. And once the pictures circulate around the internet, they will be judged and scrutinized. Remarks such as "She did it for the camera", "She is not selfless after all" are typical of internet trolls.
The 22 year old Miss Universe, a model who is of mixed race, has stirred up controversy after she was photographed wearing gloves while distributing food to orphaned, HIV infected black children at a soup kitchen in Johannesburg. Her antics have been labeled as racism.
For someone of her status to be accused of racism can be career threatening and could endanger her status as Miss Universe. But Ms Demi hit back by claiming that the gloves were used for hygiene purposes.
Part of her reign required that she perform a number of community activities. This involved serving at a soup kitchen for children in Soweto, Johannesburg. But people have a bad habit of blaming people for things they haven't done.
Every single volunteer on the site was under instructions to wear gloves. This way there is minimal risk of compromising the safety of the food. Ms Demi was no exception to this rule just because she was a 'star'.
Demi's sole intention was to make sure that the 300 malnourished kids got access to a proper, warm food. Whether Demi had gloves on or not is of no consequence. But the internet misconstrued her actions to portray racism.
Imagine for one sec if the kids were not black, but were instead white and distributed food by Demi who's still clad in her gloves. Would her skeptics have made a big deal about it? No. By labeling this to be racism, critics are inadvertently being racist themselves!
Photographs and videos reveal that when Demi was not distributing food to the kids, she removed her gloves and interacted with them by physically touching them. This shows her intentions were in the clear and she's not 'scared of touching people'.
The media frenzy has forced Demi to give a video apology. She was visibly irritated and slightly scarred by the accusations, but maintained that the gloves were for the children's own protection. They were simply used for handling food.
An individual cannot get HIV or AIDS by merely touching someone. This misconception stems from ignorant folks who aren't really aware about the nuances of the disease. Sexual contact, infected needs and blood contaminated fluids do that - not touching someone with your hands!
Despite attempts from haters to misalign her image, Demi went on to become crowned as Miss Universe. The controversy was created by people who were insecure and paranoid about covert racism perpetuated by Demi and the volunteers.
Ms Demi is actually of mixed race, this means she's the last person on earth who would be perpetuating racism. People of mixed race usually undergo extreme prejudice in their own lives. If anything, Ms Demi is empathetic to the children.
In a world where just about everything you do is extensively scrutinized and judged, Ms Demi knows better than to be stupid by being racist. Why would she become racist in public when her career is riding on the line?
Of course we're not denying that racism does not exist in the world. Celebrities are guilty of being racists. But learn to cut them some slack because just like us, they're human. Forgive and forget should be our motto.
Don't trust everything you see on social media. People love to claim a lot of false nonsense. Lives have been destroyed; careers have been ruined based on word of mouth. Social media is the stuff of nightmares and should not be taken seriously.
So, the real lesson we take away from this whole charade is that most accusations of racism aren't really racism. In fact, real racism goes unnoticed and undeterred in mainstream facets of society. We should fight those instead, or at least not waste our times by entertaining heresy circulating around the internet.
