I just look at Miley Cyrus, and I'm like, 'Great, you've doubled your audience. But you've also doubled the number of people that hate you, and doesn't that hurt?' It takes a crazy person not to be affected by that.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the challenges of public perception and the emotional toll of fame.
Bo Burnham reflects on the duality of fame, using Miley Cyrus as an example to illustrate how increased popularity also brings amplified scrutiny and criticism. He suggests that it is natural for anyone, regardless of their mental state, to be affected by hate from others, emphasizing the emotional strain that comes with being in the public eye.
In practice
In a discussions about the impacts of social media on celebrities, this quote can illustrate the emotional consequences they face.
I think it would collapse my heart if I was super famous. I don't have the nerve for it, I'm too anxious. I don't know how you're not obsessed with how people perceive you, because they're real people, you know? You can convince yourself that they don't really know you, and that's true, but how can it not hurt your feelings?
I've found nothing but support and generosity from older comics. I think comedians are a lot nicer than the stigma is, at least from my experience.
There's only one rule in stand-up, which is that you have to be funny. Yet 99 per cent of comics look and talk exactly the same.
My career was exploding at the same time that social media itself was expanding. But when my online videos were taking off, I didn't think, 'Oh, great! I'm going to be able to parlay this into a career!' I just wanted to be a comedian. I just wanted to perform live.
I was definitely not the kid that just wanted to be famous for no reason whatsoever and then happened to find comedy. Fame and all that stuff have always been slightly terrifying to me, and it makes me very anxious.
I'd much rather wait till my material is up to par, in my opinion, than rush it just so I can stay in the limelight a little longer.
Now I'm starting to think he wasn't supposed to be my whole life, he was just this doorway to me.
The way you see people is the way you treat them.
The unfortunate need people who will be kind to them; the prosperous need people to be kind to.
Will you, or will you not, quit me? I now demanded in a sudden passion, advancing close to him. "I would prefer not to quit you", he replied, gently emphasizing the not.
Everybody wants respect. In their own way, three-year-olds would like respect, and acknowledgment, in their terms.
If he thinks he would harm Mirabelle, he would back away. But he does not yet understand when and how people are hurt. He doesn't understand the subtleties of slights and pains, that it is not the big events that hurt the most but rather the smallest questionable shift in tone at the end of a spoken word that can plow most deeply into the heart.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.