For The Love Of God Will These Celebrities Stop
Rookie mistake, NPH. The American actor has made the grave mistake of announcing on social media that he’s spending some time in Australian quarantine, and it’s fair to say that the many non-famous people who have had their lives turned upside down by Australia’s continuing travel bans are far from impressed.
“Spending my birthday quarantining in Australia with my family. Tight quarters, but TBH, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” Harris announced on Twitter, finishing with the flourish: “48 is going to rock.” Ah celebrities, you’ve got to love them. Rolling up to a foreign country; completely oblivious to the political climate they’ve stepped into. Happy 48th, though.
“That’s lovely,” one Twitter user deadpanned. “Haven’t seen my partner in 16 months because of Australia’s border restrictions.” Another user called Natasja said replied: “We can't get family in for emergency mental health reasons even if they pay for quarantine and flights and have visitors visas. Please tell me your secret?”
Of course, NPH’s secret to getting into Australia is that like the many celebrities who casually swanned into Australia before him, despite our closed borders, is that he’s in show business, ok you guys? He’s in show business. And while thousands of Australian citizens remain stranded overseas; unable to return to their country, this is Neil Patrick Harris we’re talking about. He was in How I Met Your Mother, for god’s sake.
The actor is the latest in a long line of Hollywood celebrities to prove that pandemic rules don’t apply if you’re famous. Other celebrities who are also enjoying a sojourn down under during a global pandemic include Rita Ora, Tessa Thompson, Tom Hanks, Natalie Portman, Nicole Kidman, Dannii Minogue, Zac Efron and Zac Efron’s brother, for some reason.
It’s time for the Department of Home Affairs to make it official and add “been on TV” to their official exemptions list.
Written by Reena Gupta, a Melbourne-based writer for MTV Australia. Follow her on Twitter @purpletank.
