“Ladies and Gentleman we’re here on the red carpet with a fun little gameshow for our favourite Irish celebrities. So lets find ourselves some green blooded stars and test just how Irish they really are. “Paul, Paul what’s your chicken fillet roll order, our listeners absolutely HAVE to know. Andrew please, our readers are begging do you prefer your tea bag in the cup or do you take it out? Great news on the Oscar nomination Cillian now tell us, did you bring your mammy with you tonight ?””
No Irish citizen is a stranger to the recent burst of homegrown talent that has paved their way to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. With actors such as Cillian Murphy, Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Colin Farrell, and Brendan Gleeson all being nominated for major awards in acting by The Academy and The BAFTAs, and musicians such as CMAT, Hozier, and the Northern Irish group Kneecap (who are also flexing a debut feature under their belt this year) receiving critical praise that extends much farther than our small island. The enamour of Hollywood does come with its pitfalls however, something that Irish celebrities have been all too aware of for decades. At first there was some hope that this global recognition of uniquely Irish talent may finally bring an end to the stereotyping, the patronising and perhaps with a bit of luck, American talk show hosts would finally get their names right. However just as all seemed like it may change, as a glimmer of hope emerged, this new burst of talent has been cannibalised by their own.
Anyone with social media is well familiar with the trivial and benign questions asked towards celebrities on a daily basis. Whether they are playing with puppies, answering the most googled questions about themselves or reading mean tweets, we are no stranger to the vain attempts to make celebrities seem just like us regular folk. However, recently these cushy fluff pieces have taken a new form for our Irish celebrities. Media sites such as Joe.ie, LADBible, or The News Movement have been sauntering recent red carpet events, revelling in the Irishness of the celebrities around them; asking questions like “Barrys or Lyons tea?” or “What sauce do you take on your chicken fillet roll?”. This new trend, of questions being hurled at our Irish artists, is different to your typical vacuous interviews by only one element, the sheer “Irishness” of it all. The niche questions being asked can only be asked to Irish celebrities because they are something only a true Irish citizen could possibly understand. It is only this great nation that knows what a spice bag or a chicken fillet roll is, only our own would know the “power of the Irish mammy”. These questions may seem harmless at first but their impact runs deeper than the cringe-worthiness of beating celebrities over the head with jokes nearly half a century old at this stage.
This cushioned approach to reporting in itself is typically harmless (if not a little tedious) and all done in the name of good fun. However, upon watching any other interview it is rare to see celebrities indicted to reference their own nation as much as Irish celebrities.. This is a battle that has now become a double front in many ways, if you are interviewed by the regular American press they are offensively enamoured by your “oh so cute Gaelic roots”, but be approached by the Irish press and you’re being asked if you’ve left the immersion on at home, condemned to enter tedious conversations about Irish culture alone. The targeted nature of these questions aren’t even exclusive to the repeat offenders such as Joe.ie, LadBible etc. Notice how in many of their more serious interviews Irish actors are always asked to comment on the island’s seemingly natural destiny to produce raw talent. Questions about why we produce so many talented artists, does it come from the famine, perhaps British occupation?, as a viewer it becomes exhausting very quickly and you find yourself asking; when do our Irish celebrities get to just be celebrities?
This may all seem a trivial issue to complain about, given the unavoidable fact that our stars are in fact gaining international appraise. Some of these stars have even used their new international platform for honourable causes with both CMAT and Kneecap being publicly very vocal about the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people. Other artists seem to want to simply keep their head down and keep doing what they love, Cillian Murphy being a great example of someone who seemingly resents the public eye. However, this behaviour towards our Irish creatives is becoming problematic. For decades Irish celebrities have been the source of ridicule; with offensive stereotypes or insults to their national language. Just last year we were forced to bear witness to the wildly inappropriate SNL sketch poking fun at our accents. Look towards The Simpsons, Family Guy or South Park to see exactly how our nation is still struggling to overcome centuries old stereotypes of being drunk, rowdy and incomprehensible. This behaviour is indicative that our artists are not being taken seriously. Although this new approach by Irish media is less offensive in nature, the indication is very much the same. By relegating our celebrities to international heralds of Irish culture, why would we expect them to ever be treated any differently? How do we expect them to ever be taken seriously on an international stage? If we are laughing about how Irish our artists are, why would Hollywood hesitate to laugh along?
Should we allow Hollywood to laugh along with us? (it is better than being laughed at)? It’s not as if our press has malicious intents and perhaps we just want our celebrities to remain home proud, unapologetically Irish, an understandable feeling as many of our Irish celebrities of the past became Americans in all but accent. However, this incessant need to ensure our stars remain Irish as possible has become inescapable for these actors and musicians. A constant battle between remembering your roots and being taken seriously as an artist. It seems almost as though these artists are being begged to take positions as cultural icons, a symbol for all that is Irish. This feels derivative, if our homegrown celebrities are cultural icons, as Irish as Irish can be, why would they be treated differently by anyone else. They become Irish first and artist second, cannibalised by our own press. At the end of the day they are Irish, that is inescapable, they have come from Irish arts programmes, Irish schools and that in of itself should be enough to be proud of. Our culture is producing globally recognised artists at a rapid rate. Our schools and our art programmes have shining examples walking red carpets, clear and tangible evidence of just how good they are.
So, maybe it’s time we let these artists go out in the world and be artists. Maybe we don’t have to remind them they are Irish at every possible press event, they will always be Irish whether they like Barry’s or Lyons tea. They will always be a product of our nation, our culture and our system. Drawing them into these niche debates that are inherently Irish is not just unserious but condemns our artists to be Irish above all else; to us and to the rest of the world. When these artists do go on to the American press why would we expect them to be treated any differently than the embodiment of Irish we have indicted them to be. Perhaps our artists deserve to be simply that and only that. Maybe they don’t need to be constantly dragged into the worlds most tedious gameshow – “Just How Irish Are Ya?”.
