By Charlie Nadler
Recall the brief period of football history when Taylor Swift was at its forefront, boosting her boyfriend’s jersey sales by 400% as per a report by CBS. This isn’t the last time a pop culture icon was at the forefront of sports. In fact, 100 much smaller pop culture icons were invited to the US Open.
Given media credentials, the influencers who have attended the US Open have stirred quite the controversy, with critiques suggesting that they are not only taking the focus away from the sport, à la Taylor Swift, but behaving in a manner that breaks the oft unspoken, or even clear, etiquette of tennis. For instance, a match between Naomi Osaka and Anastasia Zakharova had to be paused so that the chair umpire could command the spectators behind her to take their seats.
Keane Nadler, a local student, commented on the matter: “While I would like to say that I’m shocked, their behavior comes at no surprise considering the general track record of influencers.”
The aforementioned behavior has been by no means uncommon at the US Open, highlighting the perceived diminishing role of conventional events in favor of the modern influencer, which begs the question, are sports becoming yet another influencer-dominated event?
In short, no. While it is difficult to overstate the, well, influence that influencers have over pop culture (consider those such as the Kardashians) and the necessity of social media presence to make any kind of name for oneself. News cycles are filled to the brim with the latest controversy surrounding an influencer, and children often cite becoming an influencer as one of their goals in life.
However, the influencer as a phenomenon is still extremely recent and trendy, and like most trends, it is possible that the influencer will die off. In any event, the one thing people hate are obnoxious crowds, and if influencers continue to misbehave at public events like the US Open, that popularity death may come much sooner than expected.
