Billie Eilish exemplifies how white privilege prevents accountability

In the midst of cancel culture, many people forget how to genuinely take responsibility for their actions and similarly forget to hold others accountable due to the fear of being labeled a “hater.” Today, lack of accountability starts with the most publicized crowd: celebrities. Recently, 19-year-old singer Billie Eilish has faced scrutiny and loss of support, especially from LGBTQ+ fans, due to her actions while promoting her new video “Lost Cause.”

On June 10, Eilish posted a series of photos from her video that consisted of only women labeled, “i love girls.” It is important to note that, even if not intentional, the timing of her post fell during Pride Month, so many fans considered this a coming out post. No, fans don’t have a right to know everything about Eilish; however, her actions after the post — not clarifying or apologizing for queerbaiting and calling fans “embarrassing” — warranted justifiable disapproval. The problem occurred when many LGBTQ+ fans spoke out about how Eilish’s actions were not only queerbaiting but also further stigmatized women-loving women. 

Queerbaiting is when a public figure capitalizes off of queer identities and seemingly queer story lines to gain interest from queer audiences — who are largely underrepresented — without the intention of actualizing or confirming suspicions. This happens not only in movies and television but also with artists who objectify queerness as a marketing technique. 

Along with queerbaiting, the “Lost Cause” incident highlights how WLW representation is often used to sell to the male gaze, further fetishizing this group. There is obviously a difference between being comfortable with your body, as Eilish has been trying to do, and fetishizing WLW; however, it’s hard to know where to draw the line in this situation due to Eilish’s history of queerbaiting that goes beyond what happened this past June. In 2019, Eilish received backlash for her song “wish you were gay.” Instead of it being a song about a LGBTQ+ romance as some expected, it is about a girl wishing that a guy was gay to validate him not liking her.  

Despite Eilish’s history of queerbaiting and other questionable actions, including her using African American Vernacular English and ridiculing Asian accents, her white, straight female fanbase stands by Eilish, unfazed by how truly harmful these actions are. 

This fact is the root of the problem goes beyond one person or situation. LGBTQ+, Black and Asian fans of Eilish have spoken out about her harmful actions, not asking for her to be canceled but to be held accountable; yet Eilish’s own privilege, along with the privilege of her white fanbase shields her from having to truly step back and evaluate how her actions can be perceived as harmful, which stops her from growing as a person. Accountability is impossible when privilege remains unrecognized and shields questionable actions. 

In fact, fans of Eilish often similarly queerbait and defend Eilish’s actions rather than evaluating and taking time to educate themselves on the history behind queerbaiting, AAVE and Asian slurs. White women in the entertainment industry and in everyday life alike are shielded by unchecked privilege and ultimately evade true accountability. Eilish’s Vogue cover is an example where she, a white woman, was seen as a revolutionary icon of body positivity while the reception of Chloe and Halle Bailey’s similar photos on Cosmopolitan were hypersexualized and critiqued. 

This difference in standards not only speaks to how intersectionality plays a role in the industry but also to how white privilege warrants more praise and positive attention while women of color are shamed. Calling out these incidents and questionable actions is seen as “canceling” instead of what it’s meant to be: a chance to learn and grow which is yet another layer of unchecked privilege. 

The white feminism paradigm among Eilish and her white women fanbase is only one of many examples of how privilege intervenes with accountability and true progress if left unrecognized. Ultimately, without awareness, society will be left stagnant in this culture of canceling rather than true accountability and learning.