"I am abandoning my post as chief nepo baby defender"
Lily Allen is weighing in on the ongoing debate about nepotism in Hollywood, specifically when it comes to celebrity spawn, or as they are often known as, “nepo babies.”
On Monday, New York Magazine revealed its latest cover story: an in-depth analysis of nepotism babies, with its cover, below, featuring famous celebrity children, including Dakota Johnson, Maya Hawke and Lily-Rose Depp.
The cover quickly went viral on social media and nepo babies once again became a hot topic of discussion. And Allen — who is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen — took to Twitter on Monday to share her thoughts on the subject, first noting that not all nepo babies are the same.
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“The nepo babies y’all should be worrying about are the ones working for legal firms the ones working for banks, and the ones working in politics, If we’re talking about real world consequences and robbing people of opportunity,” the 37-year-old singer tweeted. “BUT that’s none of my business.
She added, “And before you come at me for being a nepo baby myself, I will be the first to tell you that I literally deserve nothing.”
Many Twitter users began replying to Allen, sharing their thoughts on her tweets. The “F— You” singer responded to several fans, again reiterating that she is aware that she’s a nepo baby herself and has “super talented” parents.
When a user wrote, “I think most people are fine with nepo babies as long they are self aware, not ignorant and willing to admit that they are privileged but a lot of them are not that way tho,” Allen replied, “In childhood we crave stability and love, nurturing, we don’t care about money or proximity to power yet. Many of the nepo babies are starved of these basic things in childhood as their parents are probably narcissistic and entertainment business is not parent friendly eg.. Touring/ months away shooting.”
She said that “it can be hard to see one’s own privilege when you’re still processing childhood trauma,” noting how she believes “a lot of these kids haven’t figured that out yet.”
The next morning, the “Smile” singer posted a lengthy Twitter thread, responding to the backlash she received over her comments.
“Look, I seem to have riled people up with my comments about nepo babies. I am nearly 40 years of age and am more than happy, in fact I think it’s important to disclose what a privileged upbringing I’ve had and how that has created so many opportunities for me,” Allen wrote. “I mention my age because I haven’t always been able to have that conversation, in my twenties I felt very defensive about it, I felt like I worked extremely hard and that I deserved the success that I had, that people connected to my songs and that the songs came from me.”
“I also had quite a fraught relationship with some of my family members so it felt difficult for me to attribute my successes to them, at the time,” she added.
Here's How These Celebrity Kids Feel About Nepotism Baby Label
Allen went on to stress that “it’s more complicated than that,” explaining how “it is quite clear that there is a severe lack of representation in the industry where class and race are concerned. Everyone loses as a result.”
However, the “Hard Out Here” singer said she believes “nepo babies are being somewhat scapegoated here though,” and pointing out that “there is a wider, societal conversation to be had about wealth inequality, about lack of programs and funding.”
“And I guess that was the point I was trying to make, maybe badly,” she said, before then concluding her thread, “I promise you I’m not rooting for an industry full of people that had childhoods that looked like mine. I just really think that we can’t get to a real solution without identifying the real problem, as fun as it is to laugh at the kids of famous people. Nepo babies have feelings.”
Allen added another tweet before she signed off, writing, “Anyway, enough internets for today, I am abandoning my post as chief nepo baby defender. Have a wonderful rest of your day.”
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