‘We don’t just want to hear Ed Sheeran sing and play guitar, we want to know his politics’

François Picard is pleased to welcome Ellis Cashmore, sociologist, professor and author of “Celebrity Culture”. Cashmore argues that contemporary celebrity culture has fundamentally altered the relationship between entertainment and politics. There was a time when public figures retained the option of political neutrality. Whereas, today, even silence or refusal to engage can be interpreted as a political act.