Earlier this week, Brad Pitt's adopted son Pax Jolie-Pitt, called his Dad a "world class a-hole" and a "despicable person" who made his life "hell."
And?
I never thought of Brad Pitt as a good Dad. Ever. When Pitt and Angelina Jolie were lugging those kids around from movie set to movie set at the peak of their popularity, they were always caught by the paparazzi with additional people in tow. It wasn't hard to figure out that those extras were nannies and handlers.
I don't know it for a fact, but I would speculate that Brangelina had a MINIMUM of 6 people working for them in that house during the height of their their fame. If I had to take an educated guess, I would say:
2 Nannies (one AM & one PM)
1 Chef/Cook
1 Tutor
2 Personal Assistants (one for each parent) to supervise all the help and coordinate schedules
Basically one hired hand for each kid. You know who else in America is a detached Dad? Nearly all of the millionaires in the 1% club. And, to make matters worse, Pitt's one of the biggest movie stars in the entire world. Do you think he was doing laundry and checking homework?
Put yourself in Brad Pitt's shoes. Do you REALLY think he wanted to adopt those first 3 kids? His hot wife wanted to adopt those kids and he didn't argue. Then he had three kids of his own, he probably couldn't wait to get out of the house and get on that movie set.
Brad Pitt was named the sexiest man alive (twice). His life's goal was not to be the best Dad around. How do I know Brad Pitt's not a great guy in real life? When Angelina Jolie had her double mastectomy, he couldn't gnaw off his arm fast enough to get out of that marriage trap.
But in defense of Brad Pitt, I don't care if Pax was raised by an army of indentured servants, Pitt was "mean," he didn't beat the kid. Pax is probably in line for a $100,000,000 inheritance.
And, again, a reminder, Pax isn't Pitt's kid. Pax is an orphan from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, one of the most dangerous cities in Asia. Pax's life now is probably better than any citizen living in Vietnam...
I started this article 2 days ago and kind of ran out of steam. I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to move. I debated whether to scrub the whole missive because I like Brad Pitt.
I thought his performance in 12 Monkeys was one of the Best Supporting Actor performances in the history of Cinema:
I thought Fight Club was one of the best movies ever made:
But I always got the impression that his goals in life were to bang hot women and to be the best actor possible. In his defense, he succeeded in both categories, maybe better than any other actor of his generation. Was Brad Pitt great in achieving his 2 goals? Historically Great.
So when his kid said he wasn't a great Dad, I wasn't surprised. But when I revisited the comments in the first paragraph and double checked my sourcing, the Daily Mail article said that the comments were "unearthed from 2020."
Let me get this straight. I am commenting on 3 year old social media posts, made by a 16 year old, during the pandemic, when he was stuck in the house with his family?
What is wrong with me? I was <this close> to deleting the whole article.
Then I asked "what is wrong with the Daily Mail?" I have a day job, I am easily tricked. They are in the journalism business.
But in the year 2023, what is journalism? In the last month I've seen outlets hire reporters specifically to cover Taylor Swift and Beyonce. If news outlets that are supposed to cover real news are filling their ranks with entertainment reporters to generate clicks, and avoiding controversial news content to try not to anger their readers, that may be okay in the short run, but if the dominoes continue to fall where does that leave news coverage in the long run?
Because I position myself as a free speech advocate instead of a journalist, I have the freedom to write about what I do, and don't, want to write about. My core tenet is advancing free speech, not kowtowing to an overarching political philosophy.
If you go back to the theme of Fight Club, what happens when society obsesses over material goods and celebrity ruminations?