Who is the most gossiped-about person in the world?

Cafe Society
1

Notice to administrators: I think that great debates is the place for this, but if it’s not feel free to move the thread and I’m sorry if I was mistaken.

I will begin by admitting with some shame that while I don’t gossip about celebrities myself, I do check out a gossip web site or two to be entertained by watching the follies of the famous. I garner particular amusement from them for a reason exemplified by a quote from Santayana usually used to invoke much graver events: “Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it”. While technological advances have allowed a few new areas for people to make mistakes, like the Celebrity sex tape, after the first ones became known (The first I ever heard about was the one with Rob Lowe back in the 80’s) it should have been pretty apparent that if you taped yourself having sex you were at best playing Russian Roulette, and you were playing with a lot more bullets in the chamber if you were famous. I read the gossip because it reinforces my sense of self-worth in that my lifelong intention has been to avoid being the subject of gossip, and indeed to escape notice as much as possible. The world being what it is, I think the fewer people who know I exist, the less harm the world will inflict on me.

In any case, while musing about the Kennedy family, I thought sarcastically to myself “Well, not only do they have a tradition of important government service, they have provided the world with some of it’s most salacious gossip for almost a century!” This led me to muse on the subject of the most gossiped about people in history. I quickly concluded that given today’s ever expanding information technology, whoever that person is, they are the living today and are the most gossiped-about people in recent weeks. So that is my question: “Who is the most gossiped about person in the world today?”.

I realize that this question probably doesn’t have a clear answer, at least outside of certain subcategories (like: Who has the most gossip-web sites based on them?) but I’d like any suggestions people have on metrics by which to measure this, knowing going in we are not going to get a clear answer, but hoping for at least some data in regards to the question.

I suspect that the most gossiped about person is either American, or a celebrity in America, because of the historical advantages we have in media and exporting our culture, a very high rate of access and output of all information, and strong constitutional protections for gossip not just privately but publicly. Based on the web sites I’ve perused, the most gossiped about person will be either currently or formerly wealthy, will have personal problems for which they are themselves largely responsible like addictions, criminal acts, sexual promiscuity, spending far in excess of their means, unpleasant or outright offensive personal behavior, and most often of all, infidelity. They are also likely to have achieved some kind of personal success in the entertainment industry, though perhaps modest. In addition they likely have been the subject of gossip for a while now, as while on a particular day a certain person may clearly win the contest for most gossiped about when their scandal is at it’s height, sometimes that individual is someone who hasn’t been gossiped about before, and won’t be gossiped about much after a short burst of interest. I would appreciate comments on this ‘profile’ as well as suggestions for who is actually the most gossiped about person in the world.

Please share your opinions. As for my initial impression, I would think that the most gossiped about people at the moment are probably, in no particular order:
Tiger Woods
Lindsay Lohan
Charlie Sheen
Sandra Bullock and Jesse James
Dr. Conrad Murray but only because of his connection to Michael Jackson, so perhaps Jackson himself is the real one being gossiped about.
Several sports figures I can’t remember the names of because I don’t care about sports.
Jenna Jameson and her husband (together)

That’s just a snapshot off the top of my head. So, what do other people think?

2

Kate Gosselin?
Jennifer Anniston?
Brad and Angelina?
The Twilight Movie actors?

Gossip levels rise and fall as new scandals come along, or the scandalous keep a low profile and get boring. Charlie Sheen’s 9-week wonder of a scandal has pretty much died down, but Tiger Woods is hanging in there somewhat as he is back in the public eye.

I had to look up Dr. Conrad Murray and Jenna Jameson, not sure who they were or what it was they did.

3

Barack Obama?

Or in other words: “Define ‘gossip’.”

4

I would think that Princess Di still holds some record in this regard, regardless of her demise.

5

Some Chinese celebrity unknown outside of Asia.

6

For our purposes lets try this definition:
gossip

[ol]
[li]Idle talk about someone’s private or personal matters, especially someone not present.[/li][/ol]
While Politicians are much talked about, it seems to me that only part of that is gossip, while the bulk of it is more of a discussion of their merits and flaws as regards their office or the office they are running forward. I don’t consider this sort of discussion to be gossip.

7

Princess Di took the record for ‘most photographed woman’ from Bettie Page curse her, and her life spawned huge amounts of gossip, however, remember how long she has been dead and how much more information there is out there on the net, on cable, in magazines, etc. today. Gossip about her has trickled down to nothing at this point as well. I’d say modern figures have surpassed her based on the higher availability of gossip compared to her heyday but that’s just IMHO.

8

I’d second this. Being a princess, plus her messy divorce plus her strange death meant she was front and center in the tabloids for twenty years or more. Integrated over time ,anyways, I feel pretty confident that she was the subject of more gossip then anyone else. Lohan and Woods and the like are pretty much flashes in the pan. They’re the focus of media attention for a few months and then the trashier side of the press moves on to a new target.

9

While I considered Chinese celebrities, two things make me believe that they aren’t in the upper ranks of gossip are that distribution of information in China is still tightly controlled and the infrastructure for high rates of data exchange are less advanced, and because of the repressive government, gossip is both censored, and because of the dangers, the celebrities in China have a much stronger incentive not to get caught in something too unseemly as it is more likely to ruin their careers than in the U.S.

10

Or perhaps a Bollywood star that we in the West have never heard of?

11

This guy is pretty big apparently.

12

I left this in Great Debates for a few days, but I think it’ll do better in Cafe Society. Moved.

13

I was thinking Michael Jackson. He’s dead now but there’s still all kinds of speculation, plus Dr. Conrad Murray. And I just think of all the gossip fodder he provided before he died.

ETA: Know you put Dr. Conrad Murray in the OP, but I just figured I’d go straight to the source, as it were. (That is, Dr. Murray is talked about because of his association with MJ.)

14

The most gossiped-about person in the world is me. I am convinced of it. Except that I know that when you think I’m watching, y’all quickly turn to each other and pretend you were talking about something else.

That’s not gonna work this time, though, I’ll just stay logged into this thread forever, and STOP you.

muwahahahahah!.

15

Jesus Christ followed by Princess Di.

16

Carm, I came in to suggest Shah Rukh Khan, who has millions of obsessive fans, but OTOH he has a rep as a very faithful husband. Most Bollywood stars get rumors about whoever they’re starring with (probably SRK too), and the gossip industry for Bollywood is huge. Brangelina has nothing on the most famous Indian stars.

17

I doubt it’s a Bollywood star. For one thing not every part of India follows Hindi-language Bollywood; the South has its own regional movie stars. There is another big chunk at the bottom of rural India which is too poor and isolated to worry about movie stars. What’s left is probably not that much bigger than the population of the United States and certainly smaller than the population of the rich world where Hollywood movies dominate. Not to mention the growing urban middle class in developing countries all around the world who watch Hollywood movies.

Tiger Woods, Brangelina and Michael Jackson (assuming dead people count) are all good choices. All them have a much higher global profile than ,say, Lohan or Sheen.

18

Osama Bin Laden?

Because any indication of his personal circumstances ia supposedly a potential clue to his whereabouts- or if he is alive at all.