When I was younger, I would hear about celebrities who had been accused or convicted of crimes. For me, it sounded like such an insane idea, that a star could actually be a criminal.

Now, I take this topic much more seriously because I realize the privilege that many celebrities who have committed crimes seem to have.

A perfect example of this privilege is Full House star Lori Loughlin. She and her husband pleaded guilty to bribing Rick Singer, a mastermind behind multiple college admissions schemes, to get their daughters into the University of South Carolina. 

Since Loughlin is a famous and very wealthy celebrity, she was able to buy her two kids into a college whereas other students work hard to be given scholarships and approvals.

Her fame leads to connections, as well. Had Loughlin not been a celebrity, she wouldn’t have had the access to such affiliations.

The blatant privilege shown through this incident should show us that we need to hold celebrities as accountable for their actions as we would other people.

On another spectrum of fame, there have been a few scandals involving TikTok stars, such as Tony Lopez.

Lopez was accused of grooming minors by building trust with an underage person in order to gain time alone with them.

He also still has multiple followers and supporters, even after various accusations. I know there are people who think it’s okay to spread false accusations; however, there has been evidence that could prove that he was not innocent.

Lopez has been accused of sending inappropriate messages and pictures to minors over Instagram and Snapchat.

TikTok user @groooovybaby posted a video sharing the explicit messages she received from Lopez.

This kind of thing can definitely be faked, but this was not the first time that Lopez was accused of such actions.

He also sent out a public apology over Twitter, and in one line he said, “I know these actions are not taken lightly and were extremely irresponsible of me.”

Many people — including myself — are wondering why there isn’t much legal action being taken against Lopez.

While we still aren’t sure if Lopez actually did send these messages, it still reflects his privilege as a celebrity. If it were a person who wasn’t famous, there would be more investigations going on. As of now, there isn’t much being done that we know of.

Many celebrities are growing in privilege because most of society chooses to ignore the crimes that their idols commit. 

If we don’t recognize that they are people like us and can make mistakes just as any other person, their privilege will continue to affect the lives of others.