‘Celebrities also suffer from the economic crisis’: Broke celebrities and neoliberal narratives from Spain’s Great Recession

Abstract

Spain). Her research focuses on celebrity culture, class and gender studies, governmentality and reality TV. She has published articles in journals such as Convergence, Celebrity Studies, Social Semiotics, Games and Culture and Comunicar and she is the author of the book Telerrealidad, Disciplina e Identidad. Los makeover shows en España [Reality TV, discipline and identity. Makeover shows in Spain] (Ed. UOC, 2013).

Offshoring & leaking: Cristiano Ronaldo’s tax evasion, and celebrity in neoliberal times

“…In Spain civic movements "Indignados" contested corporations' and the rich's dominant place in society. Against a common background of tax evasion cultures, in Spain there were a series of scandals with corruption and tax evasion by politicians and companies following up Panama Papers, news about celebrities that owe money to the Hacienda, the national tax office (Oliva & Pérez-Latorre, 2020) as well as a general tax amnesty impulse by the Spanish Government (2012) to try to regularize more than €25,000 million of "dark" money, in exchange of just paying a 10% tax. In Portugal, the process of fiscal modernization to fight shadow economy has put emphasis on small companies and consumers; and the To answer these questions, we used purposive sampling to select a combination of quality and popular news media, from press, television, and radio in both countries (Portugal: Expresso, Público, Sol, Sábado, RTP, SIC, Renascença; Spain: El Mundo, La Vanguardia, El Mundo Deportivo, El Periódico, El Confidencial, Marca, Atresmedia), including online comments in social media posts as well as in their websites' comments sections to discuss Ronaldo.…”

“…Under the wider cultural and social moment of austerity, on the one hand, celebrities come to embody the values consistent with wider discourses and (gendered and raced) subjectivities, both embodying "good and bad citizens" (i.e., entrepreneurial and deserving vs. undeserving celebrities), such as the analysis of pop culture female celebrities (such as Beyoncé, Katie Price, or Kim Kardashian) has demonstrated (Allen et al, 2015). On the other hand, "tax shaming" practices connect with narratives of fall and misfortune of celebrities, such as cases of bankruptcy or "broke celebrities" (Oliva & Pérez-Latorre, 2020), which inspire Schadenfreude, a form of pleasure for audiences that shows public unrest provoked by inequality, but expressed in personal attacks (and not a critique of the structures that make this inequality possible) (Cross & Littler, 2010, p. 410).…”

“…In the Spanish press articles and comments, we found several mentions of pensions, poverty, orphans, and widows, pointing to a post-recession scenario in which the welfare state funds have been depleted and impacting most seriously vulnerable citizens. Here, welfare cutbacks are conceptualized as either a consequence of tax evasion and avoidance or a consequence of the economic crisis that, according to media portrayals, "affects everybody evenly" (Oliva & Pérez-Latorre, 2020) but not as a consequence of austerity policies. We also found, however, signs of criticism for the management of the State: "the Tax Office wants this money to do what it likes best: waste money" (comment, El Mundo, 26/12/2016) or "The parasitic Spanish Tax Office lives off exhausting Spaniards' money to pay with our money 17 regional governments that we don't need" (comment, El Mundo, 26/12/2017).…”

‘In the end you adapt to anything’: Responses to narratives of resilience and entrepreneurship in post-recession Spain

“…Moreover, these narratives fostered the idea that you have to do 'whatever it takes' to survive (such as take any job without complaining) (Pérez-Latorre, 2019, Oliva andPérez-Latorre, 2020).…”

“…The crisis was portrayed as an equalizer, a catastrophe that affected everyone equally, hiding the increasing inequality; this is evidenced in comedies such as the TV series La que se avecina and Con el culo al aire and Aída ; the films La chispa de la vida and 5 metros cuadrados (Allbritton, 2014; Ruiz-Muñoz, 2015); narratives of ‘broke celebrities’ (Oliva and Pérez-Latorre, 2020); and Anglo-American and Spanish post-apocalyptic stories (TV series such as The Walking Dead and El barco and video games such as The Last of Us ). Moreover, these narratives fostered the idea that you have to do ‘whatever it takes’ to survive (such as take any job without complaining) (Pérez-Latorre, 2019, Oliva and Pérez-Latorre, 2020).…”