Plenty of struggling actors have a good work ethic but don’t have powerful/successful mommies and daddies giving them a foot in the door, Meg.
It’s not dismissive to call him a nepo baby. It’s just a reflection of reality. It doesn’t make him a bad actor, it’s just acknowledging he was privileged by being the son of two very famous actors. Besides, [puts on Jeff Foxworthy mustache] If the biggest hardship you face in your life is being called a “nepo baby” then you just might be a nepo baby
Exactly. If he was a bad actor it would be totally different. But he’s fine. And his parents are two of the top actors of their generation… He’s simply a nepo baby. It is what it is.
I would be grateful to be in a position to be called a nepo baby. That means my life is pretty good and I wouldn’t want to struggle unnecessarily if I don’t have to.
Nothing wrong with it, but call a spade a spade.
Exactly. Call a Quaid a Quaid!
A society that gaslights itself with the lie of being based on meritocracy requires them to engage in these mental gymnastics.
It is true that he likely received special treatment because of his parents, and it is just as true that it is dismissive to call him a nepo baby.
That’s a specifically derogatory infantilizing name that dismisses the entirety of an actor’s own work and attributes it solely and dismissively to their genetic legacy.
Successful movie stars, especially those with successful parents, do need to be coddled, but infantilizing someone and misattributing all of their success and their very personhood is dismissive and insulting.
Successful movie stars, especially those with successful parents, do need to be coddled…
They don’t need to be coddled, but it happens. And it’s absolutely tone deaf for people who benefit from their parents fame to deny said fame had anything to do with it.
“it’s absolutely tone deaf for people who benefit from their parents fame to deny said fame had anything to do with it.”
That’s a very specific condition that most of these actors have not fulfilled, at least that I’ve come across in these articles.
It seems, by and large, these actors say something along the lines of “of course having ______ as my parent benefits me, but that doesn’t invalidate all of my own work.”
Then there’s more bullshit, narrow-minded bullying.
It’s popular to bash actors right now and safe to do so, so all the bullies are pitching in.
Nobody is calling out Picasso’s father or ernst Klimt for profiting off their famous relatives, it’s cool to bash jack quaid or Angelina Jolie, so those are the latest targets of largely unsubstantiated, whiny bullying.
They’re people, and it’s shameful and hypocritical to bully them, especially without evidence of the very measure of ingratitude or narcissism you and your ilk are accusing them of.
I like what I’ve seen of Jack Quaid’s work well enough and, no matter my opinion of his parents’ output, they certainly made a life for themselves.
What gets me is that people conflate work ethics, opportunity, and talent as merit for success. Loads of actors with equal “work ethic” to the ones we see on screens are unable to find full time work as actors. Same in other sectors where opportunities are outnumbered by candidates.
In no way can I accept that the son of two film stars “deserve” his opportunities more than anybody who has trained as hard, has the same amount of talent (however you measure that), and who probably only has a menial job to fall back on if they don’t get the part. That is not Jack Quaid’s fault, though, nor do I think his parents at any point stopped to think “Y’know, imma pull a nepo for Jack”.
I do think Meg Ryan turns a blind eye on the structural advantages that her son has had growing up as he has. It will never hurt an upcoming actor to share a last name and possible likeness with established stars but, more importantly, actors’ kids grow up knowing what agents are, where to get headshots, how much time goes into auditioning and networking — and through their parents’ friends and colleagues they have ample opportunity to climb the ladder faster than others who have to elbow themselves into acting circles from the outside.
So on the one hand children of actors know the ropes from square one, or have seasoned professionals who will mentor them. At the same time, they will probably have opportunities offered to them from producers, directors or casting agents who want to curry favour with their more famous parents. Dismissing those obvious advantages is so tone deaf and privileged that Ryan really undermines her own argument.
I like Jack, he’s a good actor. But he, most likely, would not be acting today if it wasn’t for his parents
Nobody would be doing anything without parents. It’s kind of the nature of genealogy.
Mooooom people are bein’ mean about those jobs u got me!
All was forgiven when he rolled a natural Bog.
I had no idea that was Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid’s kid.
Never heard of him, but now I’m like “oh Jack Quaid, nepo baby”.
If I were him only thing worse than being called a nepo baby would be my mom coming out publicly to tell people not to call me a nepo baby. That’s like further drawing anything to the issue and as embarrassing as a student would be of their parents loudly telling everyone in school to not be bullies.
Yep, sounds like the Streisand effect. I’ve been watching him on The Boys for the last four years and never realized he was Jack Quaid as in Dennis Quaid’s kid. And I certainly didn’t realize his mother was Meg Ryan.
“Don’t call my baby a nepo baby!”
“Wait, the guy from The Boys is Meg Ryan’s kid?” lol
Counterpoint to all this nepo baby nonsense: Nicholas Cage. Jamie Lee Curtis. Candace Bergen. John Ritter. They’re all successful actors who rivaled or surpassed their celebrity ancestors.
That doesn’t change the fact that they’re nepo babies. That’s not even a counterpoint, you’ve just listed examples of nepo babies lmao.
Haha yeah it actually shows what a huge initial advantage it even is to be able to get a chance to act in the industry, and highlights how they could have not been in the industry without nepotism. There’s a lot of talented people but only so many people the industry is willing to give a look, so relationships really matter if you don’t want to rely on lottery type luck. Industry doesn’t have a shortage of people.
That’s true of any industry. They may not be as visible as those in popular media, but it’s generally just as true.
The only reason the “nepo baby” epithet has taken off is because of parasocial pop culture relationships.
There’s lots of people who aren’t “nepo babies” who do achieve success. Assuming that these people would never make it without their connections is speculative and not just a little bit petty.
Depends on the industry. Degree based ones like medicine or accounting and or trades are easier to get into the industry to make a comfortable living for the average perdon. Now upper tier is another matter, and that does heavily benefit from relationships if going for like high management level positions.
But, the art and performance based ones like movies and music is one where relationship definitely is heavily shifted to being important, and talent and work ethic guarantees nothing. And financial security is very unstable and hard to attain for the average person to grind it out, so every advantage matters to even be considered for a job that could end up being stable.
So nepotism doesn’t discount their talent or hard work, but there’s no need downplay the role it played to even get a shot.
Which doesn’t change the dismissive nature of the epithet. Painting targets on specific people instead of the culture surrounding them makes them seem like the problem, instead of the very nature of the industry. It says “you didn’t earn this, you just inherited it”.
Just shouting “nepo baby” at people isn’t an argument, it’s abuse. If you want an argument, maybe change your strategy and try the next door over.
Standing on the shoulders of giants helps you stand taller. Besides, you weren’t necessarily around to experience the star power of their predecessors. You have no idea if they’re actually more successful or not.
It is true that he likely received special treatment because of his parents, and it is just as true that it is dismissive to call him a nepo baby.
That’s a specifically derogatory infantilizing name that dismisses the entirety of an actor’s own work and attributes it solely and dismissively to their genetic legacy.
Successful movie stars, especially those with successful parents, do need to be coddled, but infantilizing someone and misattributing all of their success and their very personhood is dismissive and insulting.
