Celebrities and Athletes: Should They Be Role Models?

Some believe that parents, teachers, family members, or individuals that spend time with the children have an obligation to serve as a role model. The issue is, whether we like it or not, athletes and celebrities have a more powerful and extreme presence over children.

Situations like Manny Ramirez’s fifty-game suspension for performance enhancing drugs, Michael Phelps’s loss of endorsements for illegal drug use, and Michael Vick’s suspension for dog fighting prompted national discussion on whether athletes, and celebrities in general, have an obligation to the public to act as role models. Some argue that because professional athletes and celebrities are idolized by the public, they should have a special duty to be role models both within and beyond the sporting arena/television/stage. Others argue that parents, teachers, family members, or individuals that spend time with the children have an obligation to teach them the difference between right and wrong and to serve as a role model. The issue with this perspective, is that whether we like it or not, athletes and celebrities seem to have a more dominating and extreme presence over children.

A celebrity is only made popular because they have a successful career. Their choice of career is also made poplar because they are doing astoundingly well in that field. Kids are extremely inspired by these celebrities and often times opt for a profession in their field because they are so inspired by their performance. However, these athletes and celebrities never signed up to be role models; whether it be a good or bad role model. Professional athletes and celebrities should not be considered a role model simply because of their status as such. Alternatively, professional athletes and celebrities should be judged based on what they are famous for and how they present themselves to the public in that capacity. Taylor Swift, a country singer with a largely young adult audience, would be expected to serve as a role model to children more than Russel Brand, an extremely vulgar comedian with a widely adult fan base.

Athletes in particular, who are jolted into the public eye due to their immense talents, often become real idols and role models to a bunch of young fans and children across the nation. Professional athletes, in particular, cannot be expected to be able to respond to the public demand that they are supposed to act as role models within and beyond the sporting arena unless the tensions implicit within that demand are articulated and discussed. The obligation to be a role model requires athletics to be examined from an ethical perspective, which is extremely complex for anyone, including professional athletes. Therefore, they should be trained to deal with these types of issues. For example, Tremaine Edmunds became the youngest player to be drafted in NFL history at nineteen years old in the 2018 draft. This shows that at as early as nineteen years old, these payers are transitioning from teenagers to national superstars. There are some kids who have exemplary demeanor and attitude and would be able to handle this kind of pressure at such a young age, while others may not be able to. It is unreasonable to put this large of an expectation on these young athletes unless proper mentoring and oversight is in place. Trainings and mentoring can include discussions on how to deal with the media attention, how to behave in certain situations, drug education and use prevention training, or other programs that teams see fit.

That being said, in the situations where a celebrity or professional athlete makes a mistake or does something that is not in line with their moral character, However, there should also be a slight burden placed on the media not to air situations of arrest, drug abuse, womanizing, driving while intoxicated, domestic abuse, or other publicly unacceptable behavior without educating the public on the difference between right from wrong and urging the public to understand that athletes are people, not idols, who make mistakes as well regardless of their talent.