Jennette McCurdy Rant: Celebrities Aren't Role Models!
Jennette McCurdy's rant posted online Thursday pushed her fans to think as her as something other than a role model. The former "iCarly" and "Sam and Cat" star posted a lengthy diatribe on Reddit about how she has grown up in the "bubblegum industry" and why viewers shouldn't think of celebrities as role models, but as strangers.
Jennette McCurdy's rant was posted in the subreddit specifically devoted to pictures and news about her. In the wake of popular Nickelodeon show "Sam and Cat" being cancelled a few weeks ago, the 22-year-old actress talked about why she strives to be a good person, but shouldn't be a role model for her fans.
"I am not a role model. I don't claim to be, I don't try to be, and I don't want to be," she began. "There was a time when I tried to live up to the aggrandizing title, that pedestal of a thing. … Back in my adolescence, I was more amiable, bubbly, and on lightly humid days, maybe even flouncy. I was role model material and then some."
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"Fast forward a few years, I've grown up a bit (emphasis on 'a bit')," she continued. "I might not be any wiser, but I like to think I'm more honest."
McCurdy talked about the "falsified standard" of Hollywood and why she is far from perfect. She said that to hold her as a role model, her fans would have to know her personally, which they don't.
"Calling a celebrity a role model is like calling a stranger a role model," the actress wrote. "The knowledge you have of a celebrity is no more than a caricature drawn by media tastemakers specializing in selling you an image you're dying to buy."
She encouraged fans to look for role models in their own lives, not celebrities.
McCurdy's online rant comes in the wake of several scandals: she publicly feuded with her former castmate Ariana Grande before "Sam and Cat" was cancelled and had lingerie photos allegedly leaked by ex-boyfriend and NBA star Andre Drummond — something he denies.
