Ireland Baldwin on nepotism: Celeb kids don’t get jobs because of their parents

Ireland Baldwin

Ireland Baldwin is the new face of Rampage, which is her first solo campaign since becoming a model. This shoot is an homage to Kim Basinger’s performance in 9 1/2 Weeks, which is interesting. I doubt Ireland had any input on the theme of the campaign, and she has stressed that she’s more than the sum of her parents. I bet she would have preferred to not channel her mother in one of her first real modeling gigs, but she looks lovely (in a very 1980s way) nonetheless.

Ireland did an interview with Cosmo to promote this campaign. She covers a variety of subjects, including sh-t she says on Twitter, the “free the nip” campaign, and the myth of nepotism:

Social media as promotion: “If you’re up-and-coming, it’s definitely important. It’s a great way to market yourself and your personality, and kind of build a fan base. There are established actors of a completely different generation than mine that you don’t really see having Twitter or Instagram, and that’s because it’s been a progression, and they’ve worked their entire lives and had their own forms of exposure. This is my generation’s exposure. So I think it is important if you’re up-and-coming.”

Does she think before tweeting? “I just tweeted something like that yesterday. I said, ‘Before you tweet something, you should ask yourself: Do people actually give a sh-t about what I’m about to say?’ I’m starting to definitely think about what I post, especially in terms of my future, and work and everything. I used to be a bit more careless, but now I definitely sit there and really think about whether this is a good idea or not.”

She supports the “free the nip” campaign: “To be honest, I think that it’s so effing stupid, because there are boobs and nipples all over Tumblr, all over Twitter, all over the world. Just walk around and there are boobs all over life, and in great artwork, in classic paintings, and in sculptures; it’s everywhere. Instagram is just behind the times. I wasn’t using [Instagram] for a while, actually — I wasn’t necessarily protesting, but I just don’t agree. I’ve had photos deleted by them, and I stopped using it for a month or so, just because I was so over it. I’ve had so many photos deleted by them, for whatever reason. I posted some famous photograph of this Easter Bunny, like a Donnie Darko-type situation … I don’t know, it was an Easter Bunny costume, and it was covered in blood. And it was this interesting art situation, and they emailed me and said it was too graphic. I just think that they’re completely, whatever, over there. I do. I support Rihanna”

Does nepotism exist? “I think that people aren’t necessarily going to hire you, especially in this industry, just because of who your parents are. Because, honestly, they’re not going to waste their time and they’re not going to blow money on someone. They don’t give a sh-t. You have to have it, or you don’t have it, and you have to work hard. And I do think it’s not fair that a lot of people perceive me, as well as someone like Kendall Jenner, as someone who was born into a particularly famous family. I don’t think it’s fair that they think because of our ‘silver spoon’ heritage, that we don’t work hard. Because we do. We work hard to get to where we are. And some people get jobs and things in different ways, but ultimately, it comes down to if you have it or not.”

[From Cosmo]

I agree partially with Ireland on the topic of nepotism. If a celebrity child is completely untalented and a nightmare to work with, companies won’t want to spend their money hiring them. It cannot be denied, however, that celebrity status helps someone get their foot in the door at any entertainment related gig. That’s the truth whether Ireland wants to admit it or not.

Ireland thinks the “free the nip” campaign is worthy because it’s so dumb for Instagram to censor female breasts. Maybe it is “dumb,” but Instagram can delete whatever photos they desire as a private company. I’ve already said this before about Scout Willis: This campaign is all about attention for the celebrities involved. If they want to show off their racks so badly, they can create their own websites and show off the girls all day long. Instagram wants to be a SFW website. End of story.

Ireland Baldwin