Asian celebrity and the pandemic: introduction

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Around the world, many countries responded by closing their borders, recommending the practice of social and physical distancing, and the wearing of masks or face coverings in public areas. Some also recommended economic shutdown of all but essential services, as people retreat to their homes to prevent the spread of the virus. In the entertainment industry, many film and television productions are also shut down. As entertainers turn to social media to create content, fans and audiences likewise turn to social media platforms for entertainment and information as people are urged to stay home.

Many also looked to celebrities and influencers to make sense of new norms and measures to curb the spread of the virus. Lady Gaga collaborated with the WHO to organise a benefit concert for Covid-19 relief efforts, featuring ‘global music stars at home as they self-isolate during the coronavirus crisis’ (Beaumont-Thomas 2020). Celebrities like Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Daniel Dae Kim were lauded for sharing their experiences on testing positive for the virus and urging the public to take Covid-19, and thus the recommended countermeasures, seriously. Others, like Madonna and Ellen DeGeneres were derided for their insensitivity towards the economic and social damage of the pandemic to the lives of those less privileged, while celebrities like Evangeline Lilly were criticised for being a Covid denier (Torres and Willen 2020).

Scholars such as de Kloet et al. (2020, p. 637) have suggested that the Covid-19 pandemic and the way various nations react to it have stirred up strong sentiments of nationalism and localism, particularly in East Asia. They argue that ‘while the outbreak has pushed the Tokyo Olympics and Eurovision Song Contest into a more distant future, another competition seems to be taking their place, ranking the success of containment measures on a global scale’. Most Western media – as expected – focused on the antics of Hollywood celebrities, but given the sense of nationalism and localism the pandemic has evoked, the question becomes: how were the celebrities in Asia responding to Covid-19?

In June 2020, The Asian Media and Cultural Studies Network hosted a panel of roundtable discussion on ‘Asian celebrities and the pandemic: Misreading the room?’, bringing together four scholars working in, and on the context of Asia and celebrity culture. Their presentations and discussions, which can be found on YouTube (Asian Media and Cultural Studies Network 2020) resulted in the contributions to this special issue.

In the first paper, Nandana Bose argues that the nationwide lockdown in India prevented the public outpouring of grief – usually in the form of massive funeral processions – when celebrity deaths occur, particularly over the alleged suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput. This not only further exposed the polarity of India’s film industry, but also the insecurities of privileged celebrities used to a jet-setting lifestyle as fans’ outpouring of grief turned to public anger, exacerbated by Covid-19 lockdowns. Dorothy Wai Sim Lau presents a different perspective from the context of Hong Kong, where the pandemic coincided with the anti-extradition protests. In her contribution, Lau argues that Hong Kong celebrities hosted fundraising events and concerts to help those in the local entertainment industry, particularly entertainers whose income was dependent on live shows. Lau uses Cantopop singer Aaron Kwok’s Cheer Up & Dance Online Charity Concert as an example, arguing that the concert also acted as a branding exercise for the Cantopop star’s ‘benevolent and professional image for fan engagement’ (Lau, this issue).

In the third paper, Crystal Abidin, through digital ethnography and personal interviews, examines how influencers in Singapore used Instagram Stories to respond to the island nation’s Covid-19 measures. Abidin identifies six phenomena that emerged among Singaporean influencers as they adapted to new norms, and she argues that these phenomena signalled major industry and systemic shifts that prioritised relatability and accessibility. In the fourth and final paper, I look at the Instagram feed of Indonesian actor Joe Taslim, arguing that it is both globalised (engaging with social activism like Black Lives Matter movement in support of US colleagues) and localised (appealing for adherence to safety measures as recommended by the Indonesian government). This differs slightly to Taslim’s Asian-American peers who engage more directly and actively in social and political activism through their social media.

These papers present snapshots of the ways Asian celebrities and influencers react and respond to the pandemic and the measures introduced in their respective Asian nations. They suggest a hint of what de Kloet et al. (2020, p. 636) call ‘biopolitical nationalism’, or, as they later specify, ‘biopolitical localism’ (p. 639), especially in the case of Hong Kong when dealing with Covid-19 as fans and audiences are turning to familiar faces for context and to make sense of what is happening during times of uncertainty.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bertha Chin

Bertha Chin is senior lecturer of Social Media and Communication at Swinburne University of Technology (Sarawak). She has published extensively on transcultural fandom, fan labour, subcultural celebrity, anti-fandom and fan-producer relationships. She is a board member of the UK-based Fan Studies Network, and co-editor of Crowdfunding the Future: Media Industries, Ethics and Digital Society (Peter Lang, 2015) and Eating Fandom (Routledge, 2020), on the intersections of food culture and fan studies.