© 2025 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

"Celebrity" just isn't hitting like it used to... (Live from On-Air Fest)

NPR's It's Been A Minute...LIVE!
On-Air Fest
NPR's It's Been A Minute...LIVE!

When twitch streamers can sway elections and viral videos can turn fifteen seconds of fame into hundreds of millions of dollars, it kind of makes you wonder: who's a real "celebrity" these days? And do they matter like they used to?

With fans fed up over ticket prices and endless product pushing, capital-C "celebrity" seems to be in its flop era. But is it gone for good? And, do we even want it back?

Brittany gets into all of it in front of a live audience at the annual On-Air Fest in Brooklyn with Vulture's Rachel Handler and Vox senior correspondent Alex Abad-Santos.

Support public media and receive ad-free listening & bonus content. Join NPR+ today.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Brittany Luse
Brittany Luse is an award-winning journalist, on-air host, and cultural critic. She is the host of It's Been a Minute and For Colored Nerds. Previously Luse hosted The Nod and Sampler podcasts, and co-hosted and executive produced The Nod with Brittany and Eric, a daily streaming show. She's written for Vulture and Harper's Bazaar, among others, and edited for the podcasts Planet Money and Not Past It. Luse and her work have been profiled by publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vulture, and Teen Vogue.
Alexis Williams
[Copyright 2024 NPR]
Barton Girdwood
[Copyright 2024 NPR]
Jasmine Romero
Neena Pathak
Veralyn Williams
Veralyn Williams (she/her) is a Peabody and Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist who has been asking hard questions about our world since she picked up her first microphone in 2004. Now she brings her skills (and ears) to her role as executive producer of programming at NPR.