Selena Gomez posted a tearful video on Instagram Stories on Monday, before quickly deleting the post. A common move from celebs backtracking with their tails between their legs – you might imagine that the singer and Emilia Pérez star shared something controversial or offensive, but the reality couldn't be further from that.
In fact her video was a reminder that celebrities can speak up, and have human responses to horrifying world events, just like us. In a time of polished, preened public image in Hollywood, where sharing your politics or honest feelings on a topic is 'bad for business', it's rare to see A-listers share their unfiltered emotions.
In the video, she responded to the US' nationwide immigration raids over the weekend, which saw the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest 956 people on Sunday — the largest number of arrests on a single day under Trump. He announced several extreme executive orders on immigration from his first day.
'I just want to say that I’m so sorry. All my people are getting attacked,' the Mexican American singer said through tears. 'The children. I don’t understand. I’m so sorry I wish I could do something but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise.'
Some of the criticism she's received online focuses on how she's making herself the story, rather than the issue. It highlights the deep skepticism we now have towards celebrities, especially if they express any kind of emotion. Some of the comments question what the point of such a video is, and an assumption that self-interest is the motivation.
But this isn't the first time she's spoken on immigration. Back in 2019, Gomez produced a Netflix documentary, Living Undocumented, and wrote an essay for Time sharing her own family's experience of crossing the border from Mexico into the US. In it, she shares that thanks to her grandparents' bravery in risking their lives to emigrate, she is a US citizen.
She wrote, 'Undocumented immigration is an issue I think about every day, and I never forget how blessed I am to have been born in this country thanks to my family and the grace of circumstance. But when I read the news headlines or see debates about immigration rage on social media, I feel afraid for those in similar situations. I feel afraid for my country.'
It's fair to say she's platformed the issue multiple times, and used her own story to try and engage her massive audience to change public perception around illegal immigration. She isn't suddenly wading into the topic all of a sudden.
On a more personal level, many of us could hardly imagine the way the recent raids impacted her. It must be beyond distressing to witness a country actively clamp down on your community, people who followed the steps of your own family, and treat them like an issue to contain or suppress. Immigration isn't just political to her; it's personal. Surely an emotional response is an adequate reaction then?
If the raids weren't upsetting enough, despite her deleting the video, the singer received a huge amount of backlash from right-wing people. US Senate candidate Sam Parker called to 'deport Selena Gomez' on X, and added, 'Selena Gomez picked illegals over America b/c she’s the 3rd gen descendent of Mexican illegals who received citizenship in the ‘87 Amnesty. She has an entitlement attitude toward America, like her illegal g’parents.'
Thankfully, she didn't seem to him very seriously. She responded on Instagram, 'Oh Mr Parker, Mr Parker. Thanks for the laugh and the threat.'
Sharing crying videos online has a bad rep, with YouTubers clickbaiting us with emotional thumbnails, and fans exploding into sobs on TikTok at concerts. Emotional videos have become a bit of a joke; ironically a sign of inauthenticity. But when politics takes a dark turn, it's reassuring to see someone's humanity. We are undoubtedly living in dark times, and her tears remind of us of that fact – to not to quickly scroll past or numb ourselves, but to feel it too.