Over the last week, drama involving the newly famous musician, Sombr has sprouted up. And it calls for the recognition of exactly why public relations training is important to celebrities in order to prevent irreparable damage to a person’s career.
If anyone has been on TikTok over the last week, there has been an abundance of videos regarding drama between concert-goer Meg Tomasic and the artist himself. Tomasic made a TikTok stating her concert experience having gone to the Washington D.C date of “The Young Nights and Late Romance Tour.” She comments on her experience, and how horrible it was.
While I fully think some of her comments were valid, I do think she also was in the wrong. But the biggest issue is how Sombr went about his response. Yes, he calls her out for body shaming but none of his response was handled in a mature way.
Tomasic was flawed in her response because she calls out the high attendance of kids, which is to be expected as he’s a highly popular male artist. The issue in calling out kids is the fact that it seems more and more that nowadays older people are forgetting that they were once kids, too.
The issue with kids in current times is that they are continuing to grow increasingly entitled to an experience that other people have paid money to be there for. And obviously Tomasic is totally allowed to have her own opinion on it, I just think that it is mean to shame kids who are just excited to be there.
She does discuss some other issues with the concert. She calls out the opener Devon Gabriella for having poor vocals and the entire thing feeling fabricated. Here’s where I am going to openly admit that I went to the Boston date of the tour, and saw Gabriella myself. While yes, I can see why some people may not like her, I personally thought her vocals were fine.
The biggest difference between those dates is the fact that it has abruptly changed seasons, so between a high probability of sickness and nerves my guess is that it was a bad performance night. What does need to be addressed is the fact that Gabriella also completely acted out of line. It is here that things have rapidly spun out of control.
Gabriella liked and replied to a bunch of fan comments along the lines of “Devon Gabriella get behind me” and comments that were uplifting her, but bringing down the original poster.
As of now, she has reposted a statement to X citing that she never encourages bullying, especially death threats, and that at the time of reacting to fans comments, she was unaware of the death threats that Meg was receiving.
Though comments under the post call her out for not only her weird fans, but her choice in endorsing parasocial relationships and only retracting her reactions after finding out that fans were indeed, being parasocial and sending death threats to someone.
Sombr, also, issued his statement on the whole ordeal. In a Tiktok post where he addresses some of the issues Tomasic stated. He addresses her statements that he was a poor singer, citing that he was sick with bronchitis and a fever. He also made a statement that is similar to my earlier thoughts, about going to a concert where the singer is younger and not expecting kids younger than herself to be there. He calls it a “skill issue,” which feels highly immature considering that even though he is “freshly 20” he should know how to address things in a mature way.
Sombr never once addresses his opener’s actions, or the fact that Tomasic was receiving death threats by his and Gabriella’s fans. Yes, he does say that he makes a lot of “brainrot” jokes, he argues that it is just a part of his online presence and that he makes the jokes for only a short time of the show while the rest is music.
Sombr does call her out on the fact that Tomasic was making comments about his appearance, which has opened a large side of the internet into making comments about his appearance and body shaming him.
This highlights just how comfortable people are in their ability to say things online. The entire ordeal demonstrates how every person online has only grown increasingly comfortable to say things about people online that people would never say to someone’s face. Yes, Tomasic had some valid complaints and comments but she also had flaws in her response. Sombr also had valid counterarguments, but he too, had flaws in his response.
That is why this whole drama goes deeper than just some online comments. It echoes the need for celebrity PR training — or at least the ability to handle situations in a mature way. Sombr’s presence online stems from the fact that he is not PR trained, so people like the relatability that comes from a human response. Yet, he remains to have people who dislike him simply because he is not trained like other celebrities. People called him out for the immature aspect of his response, and how he is only deflecting her comments because she is a 25-year-old person, when he is only five years younger than her.
It reminds me of the drama that came from Chappell Roan last year, another artist launched to massive fame through TikTok. Roan blasted her fans for their inability to leave her alone in public, calling her by her real name and general creepy interactions. She called them out for things like stalking her family, following her around and becoming mad when she rejected their requests for a picture.
Again, bringing back the idea that people are growing increasingly entitled to an experience that is not always guaranteed. Roan received an insane amount of backlash from fans online, as people did not like the fact that she was essentially telling fans that she does not wish to be harassed. With people claiming that she should not hate the fame that she so desired and how dare she be so angry at the fans who are just excited to see her.
While her statement clearly comes from her own mind, it brings a multitude of issues to light. Celebrities must have PR training to avoid situations where the possibility of backlash for speaking their thoughts is high. Society holds celebrities on a pedestal then hate when those celebrities call people out for treating them as something other than human.
The sole reason PR training exists is because they need a way to avoid any form of backlash, but then people hate when celebrities don’t seem like they’re forming an original thought. They form an original thought, and people hate them for being original. Celebrities may be rich and famous, but they are humans.
Just because they entertain people and have lots of money does not give people the right to treat them like a lapdog. When someone acts out of line, they are drawn down for standing their ground. I am glad to have celebrities I find interesting, and of course, as role models. But I don’t eat, sleep and breathe them.
Parasocial relationships are one of the biggest reasons why people hate celebrities, because they feel so entitled to who they are. The problem is, that they are not someone who is relatable because they are famous. It does not give anyone a right to act rather psychotically, or send death threats to someone who does not take an interest in another person. It is okay to detach from people and take an interest in them without being obsessed.
Before hating someone for sharing a different opinion than you, you should go outside and think about whether or not it is truly beneficial to be hateful.
