by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Let me begin by saying I just don’t care one way or another if Cara Delevingne and Kaia Gerber are dating. I will admit that the such a prospect does make my eyes bug out a little bit, that’s not the point. What those two fine, fine women do with their bodies is their own concern.
What bugs me is how the celebrity news business seems to be pulling a fast one on us about what is “real.” This is kind of late, but something about this photo and how it was presented at the time it was released really bothers me.
Ok, so, this photo is of a two-person cardigan that Taylor Swift gave Cara Delevingne and Kaia Gerber upon the release of her fan-service album “Cardigan.” So far, so good. What bothers me is at the time there was zero indication that this was anymore than just “two friends” getting a kooky gift from their equally famous friend Taylor Swift. I will admit that maybe this is far more well known in New York City than I realize and if that’s the case, I’m sorry. But relative to my media intake, there’s been not even a Entertainment Tonight allusion to this couple’s existence.
It’s almost as if celebrity media simply did not want to do anything to let us know that, uhhhhhh, those two aren’t just friends. It reminds me of how The New York Times was famous back in the day for various wink-wink nudge-nudge euphemisms for “gay.”
This brings up the issue — why does this even matter?
It matters to me because it’s the duty of journalism — even celebrity journalism – to provide context. The couple is out enough that they’re wearing a two-person cardigan, for Christ’s sake, why not just ship them to the public? It’s shit like this that makes people not trust the media.
There must have been some way to simply state the obvious about the picture — Taylor Swift gave a two-person cardigan to Cara Delevingne and Kaia Gerber who are in a romantic relationship. But I guess the reasoning is, being out among the 1% is different than being out with the hayseed rubes of middle-America so celebrity journalists, in a sense, are protecting the couple. I’m probably stumbling across some sort of queer theory concept of how different the concept of being “out” is among different parts of society.
Anyway. It’s just annoying.
But, as I keep saying, I wish the couple well (if they’re even still dating.) I just had to vent a little bit about that picture.
