Why the celebrity ‘prankster’ isn’t funny at all

A man by the name of Vitalii Sediuk has been ambushing celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Gigi Hadid.

If you haven’t heard, there’s a prankster in Hollywood who’s overstepping his boundaries through close encounters with celebrities.

Vitalii Sediuk, a Ukrainian prankster, has attempted to kiss Kim Kardashian’s butt and just a few days ago, Gigi Hadid defended herself from Vitalii by elbowing him when he lifted her off the ground.

One would think that by grabbing a woman he doesn’t know personally, Vitalii would be the villain in these situations, but that wasn’t the case.

UK tabloid The Sun released a sexist headline reading, “NOT MODEL BEHAVIOUR: Gigi Hadid aggressively lashes out and ELBOWS fan in the FACE after he tries to pick her up.” Many fans have come to the model’s defense, but much of the public is not taking this seriously enough.

Scenarios like these raise questions about the relationships between celebrities and fans. Where is the line?

Several other tabloids have released similar headlines, with the model being presented as simply overreacting to a fan’s encounter. As a college student, the situation brought me to think about the countless college women who are harassed or assaulted and who are told they’re simply ‘overreacting.” 

Sexual harassment can mean anything from receiving unsolicited pictures, having personal pictures made public, being the topic of sexual jokes, being catcalled, etc. Although Gigi and Kim’s encounters were physical, someone does not need to be physically touched to be sexually harassed.

So why do so many similar cases of harassment go unnoticed or unpunished? The problem often is that people aren’t taking these encroachments onto privacy, or the women who point them out, seriously. Something like what happened to Gigi and Kim may not have bothered some women, but if behavior like this makes someone uncomfortable or feel violated, it is a big deal. Gigi and Kim didn’t ask for pictures, they didn’t ask to be touched, and they certainly did not consent.

Another problem is that while Gigi was being lifted off the ground, her sister was the only one amongt the photographers and fans who tried to defend her. The photographers can be seen in the video snapping photos and videos of her, as if she is just part of the media circus and not a woman being physically harassed.

This prankster is nowhere near funny, but he is part of the reason why many women are hesitant to contact authorities when they’ve been assaulted or had their privacy invaded. As we’ve seen in both these celebrity instances, people often don’t take harassment against women seriously and often judge the victims, as in Gigi’s case.

According to RAINN, college women are reporting their sexual violence experiences to law enforcement less and less frequently. This is a scary thought, but it’s becoming a new normal for young women who are losing faith in our system.

Some tabloids presented Sediuk as being an obsessed fan, which clearly he’s not. As Gigi herself said, “The ACTUAL fans that were there can tell you what happened.”

Women like Gigi shouldn’t have to defend herself in public over an assault. There are videos and photographs of her being assaulted, but tabloids still found a way to portray her as the aggressor in this situation. This type of spin adds fuel to people’s automatic reaction of telling women they’re overreacting, when their first instinct should be to believe us in the first place. How would you react if a stranger grabbed you without your consent and people told you you were just behaving badly?

Chances are, you would react like Gigi did.

Every person has a right to defend his or her physical boundaries. Celebrities aren’t excluded.

More
Temple University