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My take on North West in Lion King (It's not what you think it is!)
32 Plays6 months ago
Can the internet lay off a 10 year old please?
As a youth theatre director and choreographer, I have a lot to say about North West's performance over the weekend in the Lion King. And it's not what you think it will be! (I refuse to bash a child so this really isn't about her at all.)
And how does what I say apply to general non-bajillionaire moms? Listen in and I'll explain it!
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Transcript
Introduction to Mom Tabulous
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Mom Tabulous. I am your host, Charla Mander. And today I wanted to address something that's kind of really hot and coming up in like news and on, you know, X and all this stuff right now on social, on TikTok, everything. And that is Northwest's performance in The Lion King.
00:00:25
Speaker
If you haven't seen it, you could Google it, Northwest, who's the daughter of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, performed in a 30th anniversary special for The Lion King over the weekend. And there are many, many, many mixed reviews about this, and I just want to address this.
Charla Mander's Theater Background
00:00:47
Speaker
How I'm qualified to address this is, you know, I have been a theater performer myself for, gosh, 30 years. My degree is in theater. I have directed, choreographed, produced theater for the last 20 years. I've specifically worked with children in youth theater for the last 10 years. No more than that, more than that. Let me think, when did I start my theater company 16 years ago? So I've specifically worked with children for 16 years.
00:01:17
Speaker
in various aspects, running a company, teaching after school programs, summer camps, directing. I had recitals, performed at the fair. I've directed and choreographed full productions, big productions, worked with multiple youth theater companies throughout Southern California.
00:01:36
Speaker
I've taught voice, I've taught dance, I've taught gymnastics. I was a performance coach for in dance and gymnasts. And so I have a lot of experience working with kids.
Critique of Northwest's Performance
00:01:47
Speaker
And the first thing that I want to say to this is North, do you call her North or do you call her Northwest? Either way, she's 10, okay? She's 10. The girl probably is a fifth grader, possibly fourth grader, depending on what they did and when her birthday lies.
00:02:06
Speaker
Fourth or fifth grade, internet back off of her. She's a child. My issue lies with the parents in this. And this is where I'm talking on mom tabulous here. We're talking about motherhood. We're talking about how do we do this in the most fabulous way to help our children thrive and succeed, help us thrive and succeed as moms. And so my challenge, my issue with this
00:02:36
Speaker
is how they're using her. Because this is a child that just has no experience. Her dad is a musician. Is he my favorite? No, by any means. But he is a musician. And I know, I know. I've directed my own children in shows. I know.
00:02:56
Speaker
They don't always listen to mom and dad. Okay. So I will give him that possibly he's tried to help her. Possibly she's rolling her eyes, throwing some to back at him. I don't know. I'm not in their house, but they have the means, the funds, the money, the access, the people, the, all the things to get this girl some support. Right. And they didn't, they didn't do it.
00:03:22
Speaker
So the first thing that I want to say is, yes, this was a celebrity.
Costume Concerns and Parental Support
00:03:28
Speaker
She was listed as a guest performer. So she's not taking over the role of Simba on Broadway. This was the 30th anniversary. They had many, many celebrities perform. Jennifer Hudson performed. A whole bunch of other people performed. I know there's stuff about the costume. I'm not even going to get into the costume.
00:03:46
Speaker
Somehow Kanye decided that was a cute costume for her to wear. I think it was disrespectful to the Lion King. By the way, I was in the Lion King just in this last November. I was Nala's mom at a youth theater production. Our Simba was a seven-year-old boy. He played young Simba and old Simba, and he was phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. And I think that that costume that she wore was not
00:04:15
Speaker
right? And that whoever was in charge of the costumes, even though something happened in the contract to where they decided they weren't going to costume them and the parents were going to bring the costume, someone still should have said something like you do not wear slippers and a hoodie and think it's cute for the 30th anniversary of the Lion King. She absolutely should have been costumed to Simba. That aside,
00:04:39
Speaker
what they need to do and what we can do as parents, right? When our kids come to us and they say, I have a goal. I want to fill in the blank. I want to play baseball. I want to, you know, maybe they play baseball. I want to become a better pitcher. I'm playing outfield. I want to pitch. I want to catch. What do you do? Do you just yell at the coach and tell him to put him in his pitcher? No, that doesn't work out here in the real world.
00:05:08
Speaker
What do you do? You get them the proper coaching. You, you, you, you, you maybe take them to some personal lessons, right? Private lessons where they're learning how to pitch and they're building those muscles and they're learning the proper technique and how to hold the ball and throw the ball and how to catch the ball and how to do the things with the ball as a theater director. Right. And what I've done as a mom is my kids have like, I want to sing better. Great. I hire a vocal coach and I get them the voice lessons.
00:05:35
Speaker
The Kardashians and Kanye have all the money in the world to bring a vocal coach privately to their home and get their daughter some voice lessons, get her some acting lessons, get her some dance and some dance classes. And I don't know if they've done that or not. I'm assuming they haven't because they're just using the nepotism to get her on stage. Now, are the only ones in the world to use nepotism? No.
00:06:02
Speaker
They're not, that's not new. I mean, we can't blame them, right? If I was a Kardashian, I'd be throwing my name out there all the time to get other things, right? Free this, free that, abs to flipping lately. And you can't tell me you wouldn't either. But when you're using your name to put your child on stage and they've said, if you look up articles, and this is all based on articles, online, multiple articles, I do my research before I talk about anything.
Kardashians and Performance Exploitation
00:06:25
Speaker
They've said, and we're going to show backstage scenes in our upcoming reality show. Okay. So here's where my problem lies. They put their daughter out there really to fail and they're going to use it for the reality. They're using her. Children should not be used like that. And you know, you want to use the nepotism to get your child opportunities and all of that.
00:06:52
Speaker
Try, go for it. So be it. It happens all the time in Hollywood and Broadway and all the things. They're not the first ones to do it. They're certainly not going to be the last. I know many people out here in Southern California in, you know, dance studios and theater productions and all the baseball teams and all the things where, you know, maybe the parents coach and then the kid makes the all-star team. And, you know, great, right? If you want to get your kids the opportunities, fine.
00:07:22
Speaker
go for it. We all want to help our kids. But if you really want to help your kids, if you really want them to feel confident, because this is about the internet is now coming at a 10 year old. Whether she's seeing it right now or not, she's going to see it someday. And let me tell you, we all know this girl was online because she's posting the TikToks with her mom.
00:07:43
Speaker
I know she's online. She's seeing this. And that's what kills me is she's 10 and she's hearing these adults who some of them know nothing at all about the arts, the arts performing and anything like that. But, you know, right? Everyone, everyone's got an opinion, but they're coming at a 10 year old.
00:08:03
Speaker
And that's why the problem is you put your daughter out there without the training, without the support, without the help and you set her up to fail and then you're going to use it on your reality show so you can make money and she's 10 and the internet is coming at her. And I don't know, but I haven't seen Kim or Kanye or Courtney or Chloe or Chris or anyone.
00:08:27
Speaker
Maybe it's happened, but I just haven't seen it. But I haven't seen it. I haven't seen anyone coming on to defend this child. She's a child. What I'm looking for is a parent to go, hey, she's 10. Back off of her and come at me. Because that's what I do. When people want to talk to my kids, you know what? Leave them alone. Come at me. I'm the mom. Come to me. Have a conversation with me. Don't come at my kid.
00:08:52
Speaker
And I have a dear friend, her son is like quarterback on the football team and he's really good and you know, high school football parents like to yell and she overheard at one point someone yelling at her kid to do something and she kind of walked over and was like, Hey, if you have something to say, I'm his mom, I'm sitting right over there, right? And he's in high school and he's a boy. Okay, so.
00:09:15
Speaker
Stand up for your kids. You put her in that situation. She didn't drive herself there. She didn't sign the contract. She can't. She's 10. Somebody had to sign that contract for her, and that had to be a grown adult guardian who's in charge. Somebody had to set all this up for her, and that was you. That was the parents. So they put her in this position, and I don't see them coming back saying, you know what? Come at me.
00:09:39
Speaker
Don't come at my kid. Okay. Is she the most talented? No, not right now. Does she have, does she have potential? Absolutely. And they have all the money in the means to get the support for her. So that's, this is what I'm saying, right? As parents, what we can do is give our kids opportunity by providing them the proper support and coaching and teaching and experience and all the things and support them in that way.
00:10:05
Speaker
And to hold them when, when, when they need us to, and then drive them to the places when they need us to, that's how we help them achieve their dreams. Right. And so, you know, the problem is, is that they're setting their up to fail. Now the internet is coming at a 10 year old.
Leveraging Family Connections
00:10:22
Speaker
That's where I have an issue. That's where my heart hurts.
00:10:27
Speaker
for the world.
00:10:42
Speaker
I don't know if they paid money to get her on there, but I know there's been rumors that they paid money to get her on there. I couldn't really find that. I know that they do have ties to the producers of these productions. And so I think it was just the connection and the draw that she would draw an audience. And quite honestly, that this might happen. I think that the producers and the people
00:11:04
Speaker
knew that she wasn't going to be the best and kind of it's that any, any attention is good attention kind of thing. So they, they're doing this and they're, they're using a 10 year old, but rather than using their, their sway with their name to get her on that stage, um, they could use it and use their money to get her the lessons to help her achieve this goal that she has.
00:11:33
Speaker
She is, I read that she has goals to be on stage and she likes to do theater and she likes to sing and dance and she has a goal to do that more. Great. And she absolutely can. And her parents just need to get her the proper support and coaching.
Teaching Hard Work and Protection Laws
00:11:48
Speaker
So the bottom line is this, we need to do our very, very, very, very best as parents to help our kids feel loved and supported no matter what, but also to teach them the value of hard work, right? Like I said, nepotism is not going to go away, but they would do a lot
00:12:03
Speaker
better to say, hey, you want to do this? Great. Let's get you this voice coach, this dance teacher, this acting coach, this whatever you want to play an instrument. Here's your piano teacher. Like, let's get you the training so that you can thrive. And then when you show up, you really show out, right? You really show them. Tori Spelling had that story of when she auditioned for 90210, she went in under a different name.
00:12:33
Speaker
because she didn't want anyone to know that she was Aaron Spelling's daughter and he was like the producer of 90210, right? I don't know if they knew who she was or not. Possibly they'd seen pictures of her and met her before or whatever, but she claims when she walked in the room, she went under a different name. And I have to respect that because she wanted to get the role because she earned the role, not because of who her dad was.
00:12:58
Speaker
Did she get the role because of who her dad was? I have no idea. I have no idea. But at the very least, she tried, right? She changed her name and she went in under a different name and she went in and auditioned to try to get it on her own. And that, right? Get the respect. So these kids of celebrities have an opportunity to get really, really, really, really good because they have all the money in the world to get really, really, really, really, really, really good. So when they do go on that audition, they kill it.
00:13:27
Speaker
And then people go, whoa, like, wow, OK, you know, and then they earned it. And the Internet hopefully doesn't come at a 10 year old. But if you're one of those people shit talking a 10 year old, please stop and and go with the parents, you know, go with the parents. And I kind of shared a reel that shared some other kids auditions. And I said, you know what, this kid would have been great. That kid would have been great. Here's the bottom line. This poor girl is being used by her parents for publicity.
00:13:56
Speaker
and for money and that's wrong. We've got laws to protect the kids finances now, which we didn't have until like 1980 something or late eighties into the nineties. I think we need laws of like, and I don't even know how we would do this, but like protecting the kids from the parents using the kids for the publicity because that is,
00:14:27
Speaker
just as damaging. It's maybe more damaging, right? Finances you can come back from. Mental health matters. And we've heard so many stories from all these celebrities, kids. And if you hear about like Drew Barrymore and, you know, all like we have a responsibility as parents to raise our children, to be the most mentally healthy that we can. And using your child for publicity,
00:14:50
Speaker
using them for money, using them to keep your name relevant is just wrong on every level. Setting, putting them out there and setting them up to fail so you can use it on your reality show is wrong on every level. Maybe I'm way off base here with their goals, but what I read, this is, this is what I read. So this is my personal opinion. You know, who am I? I'm just a middle aged mom who, you know,
00:15:17
Speaker
It has a pretty good amount of experience in theater and directing kids and working with kids and choreographing kids and mentoring kids. And how do we support them? We get them that support. We get them the coaching.
Supporting Children in the Arts
00:15:32
Speaker
And if you can't afford it, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube. YouTube has so many tutorials. There is free content all over. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, find it.
00:15:47
Speaker
You know, sit the kids down, teach them the value of working hard towards their goals, finding ways to get creative to learn about it. I had a kid who came to one of the summer camps that I taught. He was like five and his parents were so proud. He paid for it all himself. He collected cans and recycled cans and got the money and it took him months and a five year old, he paid for this whole summer camp by himself. It was a few hundred dollars and that was 20 years ago. So, you know,
00:16:17
Speaker
It's possible. It's possible. Get creative. Find the ways, fundraise. I've had kids that couldn't afford it, scholarships all the time that I did with my company or companies that worked for you have scholarships, but also parents would fundraise. They'd have lemonade stands. They'd get creative to pay for the camps and the coaching and the lessons to help their children to succeed, to do the things. So there's also scholarships. I know so many people giving scholarships in the arts.
00:16:46
Speaker
It's insane and it's always available. Not that the Kardashians need a scholarship, I'm saying for us, right? In general, the general public, if you need one, they are there. They are there. There are so many arts grants right now and companies are getting them because we want the kids to come in for the arts. So look for those. If you can't afford
00:17:09
Speaker
you know, the coaches for your kids, look for, look for the grants and look, look for the places that are getting the grants because they're there and ask about scholarship opportunities because they're there. And that's how we can best support our kids. Is nepotism going to go away? No, not by any means. But even if you can't, you can't do that. If you're not a Kardashian, right? You can absolutely support your kids and you can get creative.
00:17:38
Speaker
and you can show them that value of hard work and feeling that sweet, sweet success when they've worked really, really, really, really hard for something and they've earned it. All right, I'll see you guys in the next episode. Bye.