Society itself is bad enough when it comes to perpetuating stigmas and racism, but racist views and sentiments get more publicity, so to speak, when perpetuated by someone in the public eye. This person can be a famous actor, singer, politician, athlete, or one of any number of categories of people constantly in the public eye. One such person who has done just that in the wake of the Boston bombings is much-loved reality show "Cake Boss"'s Anthony Bellifemine. Following the bombings (but before any arrests or claims of responsibility surfaced!), Bellifemine tweeted, "Lets just keep letting all these Animals into our country so they can keep attacking us...We even pay for them to go to school how's that!" His tweets were seemingly aimed at Muslim extremist terrorists from the Middle East. Even after many people called him out on his comments, he continued to defend his views.
It is especially dangerous for people in the public eye to make and defend comments such as these, because it not only perpetuates intolerant and racist views (especially among people who are more likely to be lemming-like in their following of celebrities) but also broadcasts hate on a national and possibly international level, which, in my opinion, slows the progress of intercultural acceptance.
Source: jezebel.com (See Article Here)
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