Controversies surrounding the global icon, Priyanka Chopra have never failed to disappoint her fans. Being bold, fearless and witty, she has always managed to crawl out of the circumstances that hinder her success. With that said, however, we believe that her upcoming reality show-induced controversy is here to stay for a while now. ‘The Activist’ is an upcoming American television show that promotes activists from all across the globe to support a number of charitable causes while competing against each other. This article is authored in order to understand why this critically acclaimed show received such heavy backlash. Before that, we shall delve deep into comprehending what the concept of the show is all about.
Source – Wikipedia
US-based show ‘The Activist’ was announced in the first week of September. Reportedly, it will be broadcast on the American network CBS in October 2021 and will continue to air for a planned period of five weeks. It is co-produced by a non-governmental and philanthropic organization known as ‘Global Citizen’. As reports suggest, the makers of the show selected three celebrity judges: the singer Usher, actress Priyanka Chopra, and dancer Julianne Hough.
Seemingly, the spectators will entail the adventures of the six competent activists working to bring about a significant difference to one of three pressing universal causes including health, education and the environment.
Source – The news minute
A statement issued by CBS revealed that the six contestants will compete as teams of two in order to promote and raise awareness of their preferable charitable cause. Each team will be provided assistance by one of the show’s renowned hosts. They will be seen participating in missions, media stunts, digital campaigns as well as community happenings. Their success and rewards will be determined through sources such as online engagement, social metrics, and hosts’ contributions.
Its final episode will be held in Rome, Italy in late October where the G20 summit is scheduled for the year. This will be where these incredible campaigners will become acquainted with great world leaders in fine hopes of discussing, raising financial capital, and amplifying their causes to a wider set of audience.
Coming to the question about why ‘The Activist’ has attracted serious heat and hatred, it was mainly due to the concept of the same. Ever since the announcement of the show was delivered online,a group of social media users and opinionated individuals have criticized its competitive and business-minded approach. Not only the makers but also the three elite judges are being severely berated. There has been callous denouncement hitting as hard as nails questioning the nature of this television broadcast. While some have used “dystopian” to put in the right word, others commented that the capitalist show was too far away from reality. It is as if activism is being treated as a cut-throat competition with the only aim to garner fame and finance, is completely unacceptable.
Accusing the show of trivializing activism, famous British actress and activist Jameela Jamil took to twitter to publicly defame the premise of the reality show. She tweeted “Couldn’t they just give the money it’s going to take to pay this expensive talent and make this show, directly to activist causes? Rather than turning activism into a game and then giving a fraction of the much needed money away in a ‘prize…?’ People are dying”.
‘The Activist’ grew more and more infamous with each passing day when several folks were left flabbergasted on learning CBS’ decision to allow Chopra, Hough, and Usher to serve as the judges. This comes as a reference to the times when these personalities were involved in discouraging deeds of activism. Eventually, following this chaos, the triad apologized for their association in the development of the show.
Source – The Times of India
It has to be clearly and implicitly understood that helping and being compassionate towards our fellow world citizens must neither be mixed up with earning profits nor performance. Positioning activists on a particular front for their sincere engagement in“activism” may discourage the necessary self-work that he or she advocating for change must participate in. Speaking about the show, in spite of all the constant outrage and slamming pouring in, there are no reports so far that the producers would wish to rethink their decision.
Written by- Miloni Chheda
Edited by- Krish Sharma
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