Meditate with Lizzo, cook with Queer Eye, handstands with Ryan Reynolds – the best celebrity social media challenges during lockdown
From Spider-Man star Tom Holland dressing while doing a handstand to Lizzo’s Zen flute sessions and Kevin Baker’s #IStayAtHomeFor viral hashtag – these celebs are sharing love and boredom relief with inventive online challenges in the days of Covid-19
There’s no denying it – these are some strange times. With many countries in complete lockdown, following strict advice to maintain social distance and stay at home, the general sentiment around the world is clear: we are bored, we are lonely and we are feeling a bit down.
While social media challenges are nothing new, they have taken on a whole new life while people are stuck at home (presumably not working) and scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, among others. We take a look at how some A-list celebrities have turned to social media to spread awareness of the virus and encourage and challenge followers and friends to keep their spirits high.
Social distancing challenge: #IStayAtHomeFor
Taking a spin on the celebrity game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, actor Bacon launched his own challenge on Instagram on March 18, first and foremost asking Hollywood, and the rest of the world, to stay home to prevent the spread of the virus by posting a photo of themselves holding up a sign stating who they “stay home for” and tagging six friends to do the same.
“Every one of us has someone who is worth staying home for,” the actor said while reminding us that “the contact that you make with someone who makes contact with someone else, that may be what makes somebody’s mum or grandpa or wife sick”.
The campaign has taken the world by storm. Celebrities, young and old, all joined the cause. David Beckham is staying home for Victoria and their children; Elton John is staying home for David Furnish and their boys; Millie Bobby Brown is staying home for her family, her grandmother and the vulnerable and the elderly.
At the time of writing, public posts using the hashtag #IStayHomeFor had amassed more than 57,000 posts. Spin-off hashtags #StayHomeFor, #IStayHome have equally amassed tens of thousands of posts and boast photos and videos in various languages spanning the globe. The challenge to stay home sure hasn’t been easy – but it is worth it.
Cooking challenge: cook with Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski
Step aside Netflix, the Fab Five’s resident chef has launched his own webisodes while in lockdown – Quar Eye: Cooking Lessons in Quarantine. Says Porowski: “We’re stuck at home so we might as well still be able to prepare good food that is good for us and makes us feel good … ‘cause we need things that make us feel good even in pandemics like these.”