The recent news about the college admissions scandals shocked the entire nation, but even more so, it rocked the glamorous world of Hollywood. That is because two of the people involved and facing federal charges were Hollywood celebrities. They are none other than
Full House
actress Lori Loughlin and
Desperate Housewives
star Felicity Huffman.
The story of Loughlin and Huffman may differ, but both cases of admission fraud were orchestrated by one man, William Rick Singer, the CEO of a college admissions prep company The Key. In Loughlin’s case, the actress and her husband Mossimo Giannulli agreed to pay bribes totalling to $500,000 to make it appear that both their daughters had been recruited to be part of the University of Southern California’s crew team. The actress’ daughters however never competed in crew, and might have never even rowed in their lives.
On the other hand, Felicity Huffman was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. Huffman is married to actor William H. Macy, and although the actor is not included in the charges, they are both accused of giving a $15,000 donation to a made-up charitable organization, so that their 18-year-old daughter, Sofia Grace, would get help while she took the 2017 SATs.
With celebrities being involved, their colleagues and peers in the entertainment world couldn’t help but voice their strong opinions, not necessarily towards against the two ladies, but more so towards the system. Katie Couric, although upset by the news, sees this as an opportunity to re-evaluate the whole system that is full of inequality.
On the other hand, Jay Leno did not mince his words when he said that the scandal is the ‘ultimate white privilege story’, with rich white people taking advantage of poor people. While Julia Roberts shared her thoughts from the perspective of a mother, saying that such actions from the outed moms is like telling their child, “I don’t have faith in you.”
When it comes to the darlings of Instagram and Twitter, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, Legend claps back at the people involved in the scandal, while Teigen hilariously photoshopped her face onto the body of a pro soccer player and shared it on social media.
