This post is taken from Mid-Monthly Musings for November 2025. Full newsletter is archived here. To receive Mid-Monthly Musings directly in your inbox, subscribe here.
I’ve been asked about that word, “famous,” more than usual recently. It’s part of my podcast premise: I chat with famous people about the geek-outs, hobbies, or interests they’re not necessarily famous for. Which is why I named the show We Contain Multitudes. (See what I did there?)
I’ve been told my podcast might get rated poorly because my choice of a famous guest might not be ‘famous enough’ for some. That conversation (with a good friend as well as separately with my husband) sparked these Musings.
As a rule, I don’t create things with potential detractors in mind. I know that what I do, as a writer or podcast host, isn’t for everyone. So, I’m not likely to crowdsource guests any time soon—or ever lol. But this conversation around “famous” is interesting to me because I think it relates to the discussion around gatekeeping culture.
Does “famous” mean you’ve been on TV, in movies, in the news? Does it mean you’ve surpassed a threshold number of followers on social media? What is that number—5k, 10k, 1M? Who gets to decide where that minimum threshold is? Does it mean you’ve been on the cover of a magazine? Who got to decide to put you there?
Is “famous” solely a function of how many households bandy about your name with familiarity? Is it the same as “celebrity”? Does being “famous” equal a minimum number of strangers gossiping about you? Is “famous” functionally the same as “infamous”?
What about pro athletes in splashy marquee sports like the NFL or the NBA? Some of us may know some of those names; others will know none. Does straightforward name recognition count? Most of us know our national politicians’ names, right? Maybe regional politicians, too? News anchors? Local meteorologists? Niche car dealership owners who star in their own commercials..?
If we don’t recognize someone who somebody else claims is “famous,” does it mean that someone isn’t famous? We all know people who would argue this point, endlessly.
There are plenty of social media influencers with followers in the millions, whom I and you know nothing about. These are entrepreneurs whose loyal followers buy anything from skin care to children’s books to clothing and cosmetics, to the tune of five figures a month. Likewise, there are dozens of soap opera actors I would not be able to pick out of a lineup, but who’re on shows that millions of people watch weekday-ly. And please don’t let’s start on international footie players, whom huge swaths of the rest of the world would absolutely recognize (and adore), while I have not the slightest.
There’s an ongoing discussion underpinning all of these examples: who gets to decide or determine what sorts of media get made; what are the barriers to participation; what does ‘the culture’ value, in which communities; who gets to defines ‘the culture’; whose voices/presence gets lifted up versus whose voices get automatically scrutinized for merit…and on and on and on. It’s ongoing, as I say, and worth critical analysis. I suppose this is one small entry into that discourse.
I’m used to being forced to care about the whims of gatekeepers. My podcast is one way for me to be thoughtful about my own gatekeeping. And yes, even though the power differential or dynamics aren’t the same, I think it is a form of gatekeeping because the invitations aren’t open to everyone. I make choices about whom I invite. I curate my list of guests from a range of cultural spheres; they’re all accomplished and well-known in their respective areas of influence. More importantly for the podcast, my guests are all interesting people with fun things to talk about.
I understand that the potential disagreement with the term “famous” might not necessarily be malicious, or meant to be gatekeeping. Though the result can end up being the same as. Some people are simply extremely invested in accuracy, or in particular rules about words and definitions. That’s okay. I don’t police how other people process the world. I would hope that We Contain Multitudes be extended a similar courtesy, and be approached with its sole purpose in mind: joy.
For what it’s worth, I haven’t interviewed a guest yet who hasn’t demurred when I described them as famous. It doesn’t cancel out being humble, I guess, and isn’t that a bit of lovely in an often harsh world?
This post is taken from Mid-Monthly Musings for November 2025. Full newsletter is archived here. To receive Mid-Monthly Musings directly in your inbox, subscribe here.