There’s nothing more venal about the cult of celebrity that now defines Western culture than the way celebrities conspire with tabloids to pimp out pictures of their new-born babies. And there’s nothing redeeming in celebrities declaring that the money will go to charity; because that invariably means less than 10 percent of the millions they rake in.
This is why I am so pleased that Beyoncé and Jay-Z have broken this trend. For instead of demanding even more than the reported $11 million Angie and Brad got for pictures of their twins, Bey and Jay fed this incomprehensible public lust by releasing photos of their one-month-old daughter Blue Ivy on a Tumblr page – reportedly, for no money at all.
Of course, it may just be that they are banking on this publicity generating millions in fees for the even more venal trend they’ve started by trademarking their baby’s name….
Nonetheless, I hope rich celebrities will be shamed into stopping the greedy practice of pimping out pictures of their babies. For it’s clearly hoping too much for the public to come to its senses and stop caring what these babies look like.