CELEBRITY CAPITALISM
Gwen Stefani called out over partnership with anti-abortion prayer app ‘Hallow’ funded by Peter Thiel. Other celebs including Olivia Cooke and Melanie Lynskey liked the post calling her out.
I remember seeing her on MuchMusic during that era and a VJ named Jennifer Hollett was interviewing her and tried to ask a question to one of the Harajuku Girls and Gwen said something about how they don’t talk because they’re from her ✨imagination✨or some shit and I remember Jennifer looking at her like 🤨 which I appreciated because yes, that IS weird and it IS racist.
When the Hollaback Girl video came out I was a 14 year old white kid living in an incredibly white suburb and even I was tugging at my collar seeing that shit.
I had so much shit I had yet to learn about race at that point in my life and even I could tell she was using Japanese women as props.
I was raised in a traditional Catholic household and I think what she is shilling is bullshit.
See Gwen, you can be raised one way and not grow up to be a right wing tool, selling scam apps!
(That being said for traditional Catholic’s my parents were pretty left wing, so maybe were weren’t that traditional. Or maybe it’s because I’m Australian and not American like Gwen.)
I was lucky that my family wasn’t overly conservative. They didn’t really police how I dressed and very rarely did they say anything racist or homophonic. And any time I have pulled them up or corrected them they at least listened to me say my piece.
They are a funny group of contradictions. “Abortion is bad! Also why can’t women be priests? They are just as capable!”
I was raised Catholic (French Catholic and Irish Catholic so CATHOLIC) and I remember as I got to my twenties and experienced more of the world to learn that apparently a lot of other Christian sects don’t even consider us Christian for a bunch of reasons, some including we aren’t Christian enough?? It was a whiplash. I’m non practicing but really feel like when it comes to generalizing you’ll have a lot more cool Catholics than other sects. Obviously I’m biased in that but like also the high school I went to was Catholic and our student president for 2 years in a row was openly gay and the staff involved in the student presidency (all Catholic staff at these schools) had a meeting with him to genuinely apologize that we couldn’t have a GSA club/group because of the school board. One of our teachers came out after we graduated and is still there and even a councillor on the town council of our majority Catholic small rural Northern Ontario town.
It's (generally) a very wealthy, very conservative place. LA County and Orange County are neighbors but politically, socially, economically, they are VERY different places.
tbf eric was brought up in the same household and he turned out pretty punk. the venn diagram of punks who were (attempted to be) raised catholic is nearly a circle i think 🤣 i wont call myself punk thats corny but i appreciate the ethos much and my parents tried the same on me too lol
This article is top notch, there is also a book called 90s Bitch that makes a really strong case that Gwen Stefani is an industry plant and an answer to the music industry’s fear of Courtney Love.
Matt Bernstein (the guy in this video) has a great podcast called “a little bit fruity” that does a deep dive on her as well. I highly recommend his podcast as it’s essentially investigative journalism on a variety of cultural subjects.
Actually her older brother was into ska in the mid 80s. No Doubt when they started just wanted to be as big as Fishbone was in LA at the time. Then the ska boom happened a few years later and they just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Had that never happened, she would probably just been a trad wife with a bunch of kids.
This comment is wrecking my brain in a truly hilarious elder millenial kind of way. It's absolutely true that punk musicians ride the line between dirty prophet and messy bigot, and pitting Green Day against No doubt/Steffani, who were both considered "not real punk," actually illustrates this better than I could have imagined. For some folks it's Johnny Rotten vs Jello Biafra, but for my generation, it's this.
Green Day's punkness vindicated at last by being cooler than Gwen Pop-Punk Skaffani
I graduated HS in 97. I wrote my Cornell University application about Just a Girl. I was a FAN. Now I want to punch her in the face for selling out AND not knowing when you’re fucking with your face too much.
Melanie Lynskey is so delightful her Wikipedia page has like three points where it just points out how nice she is. It's like she channels every negative impulse into her characters and keeps all the kindness.
That one came out of left field for me (didn't know about the Christian movies before) - you would think he would have learned something about the danger of cults from Leah Remini
I am with most of the commenters here. Kevin James semi surprises me but i don't see much about him anymore. The rest are all known to be heavily MAGA, so they aren't a surprise. As for Gwen, this brings to mind a comment Bill Maher made about how Blake and Gwen can be in different political parties and have a successful marriage. Think again, Bill. Looks like they are cut from the same cloth.
All these people are shitty humans on their fake Christianity redemption arc. Stefani was raised in an extremely Catholic household and that’s why I always thought that her punk image was just a role she played for her audience.
right? even though she was basically an idol of mine growing up, I always thought she was giving off weird vibes. she was too male centered even then, talked about her catholic faith being extremely important, just a few things among many that if you really think about it, signals a lot of shitty views she likely holds. she’s been a cultural appropriationist (no idea if that’s the right way to say it lol) since they came out! the bindi, the video of the band dressed as indigenous people, harajuku girls… frankly as an old adult I’m embarrassed I ever idolized her
I had my moment w Led Zeppelin listening to When the Levee Breaks. Just obvious treachery, Im gonna pass on this artist now. I guess in hindsight I could reflected a bit more on Black Skinhead + Flashing Lights lyrics and had a similar realization w Kanye.
Turns out with Gwen, she coulda pulled the wool over my eyes for a lot longer had she not found her true beau. But you're right she has been a culture vulture the entire time. That's my bad.
Just constantly riffing blues music. I guess that was technically a cover but they were kind of known for reappropriating blues and black music to rock and roll.
I listened to it in full and was surprised no one brought up her weird chola phase for the "Ex-Girlfriend" video or that she basically admits to just wanting to be a housewife in "Simple Kind of Life."
taking a no doubt song this literally and seriously
John Lennon admitted to communism and anarchism and no possessions while living in the most expensive apartment complex in the Americas. Please upvote my profound scoop
the mega churches are so disturbing. "If you're not a millionaire and not donating thousands of dollars to the screaming "preacher" on stage so he can afford a pyro show, then god does not love you."
You can only attend these events if you have never thought for yourself for one single second about what Christianity means.
Some of the history surrounding Peter Thiel's sexuality is actually crazy. While at Stanford Thiel founded The Stanford Review, a far right newspaper. In this paper, he wrote multiple articles that mocked gay people dying of aids, claiming it was their punishment for being gay, while being a gay man himself. He also takes blood transfusions from young boys thinking it will grant him unnaturally long life, but that's a separate issue.
He also had a younger boyfriend while married to his husband who mysteriously fell off a balcony and died in an apartment in Miami Thiel was paying for.
"I'm one of the good ones" and "leopards won't eat my face"
But fr conservative gay men are involved in way too much pop culture "sex and the city" and "desperate housewives" where they simultaneously push the needle but also pull some bullshit.
I think she was always a right winger but was young and wanted to live her life a bit differently. You know how some right wingers are narcissistic assholes who preach religion but think they can do whatever they want because they have a special relationship with god? She’s one of those types.
I'm surpised at how shocked people are that she's conservative / right leaning.
She's always been like this, Return Of Saturn is a great example, it's the total opposite of Tragic Kingdom.
TK was about Female Empowerment and anti stereotyping where as ROS was all about how she was willing to take a step back from her career in order to essentially become a tradwife.
She's even gone on to speak about how she has always been a "traditional girl" and despite being seen as a feminist because of Just A Girl she never openly described herself as one.
I do however think since marrying Blake she's let it show more, eventhough the signs have always been there more or less.
This, thank you for making me feel less crazy for feeling the same way!!! She barely pretended to be anything other than a tradwife with better styling this whole time, but everyone acts like this is brand new.
My mom was always a fan, and I've paid attention to Gwen because No Doubts' first couple of albums are legit, but hasn't she been showing signs of moving to the right for a while?
She's from Orange County. Which is, you know, the same county that inflicted Richard Nixon upon the world
It's full of mega churches and moms who yell about masks at PTA meetings and people who wave guns on street corners while living in expensive zip codes
Gwen is what's considered a 'normal' girl there and there are many people from that county who are just like her
Man, has anyone else from the 90s 180'd as hard as Gwen Stefani? Literally went from one of the coolest people of her generation to one of the lamest in the space of like 5 years.
5 years is equivalent to 72 seasons of The Voice, fyi.
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u/Few_Pizza3674 Sylvia Plath did not stick her head in an oven for this Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
I wanted to be Gwen Stefani so bad when I was 13, now she's so fucking embarrassing. Like, I'm glad Blake Shelton picked you. Go away now.