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Ben Shapiro’s end-of-year roundup of 2025’s most viral moments is exactly the kind of cultural triage Americans need right now — a brisk, common-sense takedown of celebrity hysteria and social-media theater. The clip, published on the Daily Wire feed on December 31, 2025, pulls together everything from fashion stunts to billionaire spectacle and treats them like what they are: distractions from real public policy and real problems. Conservatives should welcome a voice willing to call out the nonsense instead of amplifying it.
Two of the year’s signature viral scenes — Sydney Sweeney’s jeans ads and Katy Perry’s Blue Origin jaunt — tell the same story about our cultural elites: PR over substance, outrage over responsibility. Shapiro highlights these moments not because they’re unimportant, but because they show how the modern media-industrial complex manufactures controversy to sell products and narratives. When entertainers and brands chase virality, hardworking Americans get footnotes while the outrage machine gets headlines.
The Sydney Sweeney-American Eagle campaign was a masterclass in manufactured controversy: a commercial meant to sell denim somehow became a culture-war cudgel, with critics reading dog whistles into a marketing stunt. Sweeney later admitted her silence on the backlash only “widened the divide,” a telling line from an actress who discovered that staying quiet doesn’t protect you from being dragged into politics. Meanwhile, the campaign succeeded at its job — driving brand attention and sales while the media feasted on outrage.
Let’s be honest: companies that profit from outrage aren’t interested in national healing; they’re interested in market share. American Eagle’s summer push became a viral business win even as pundits screamed about “eugenics” and “dog whistles.” Conservatives should point out that the left’s performative moralism often feeds the very commercial ecosystems it pretends to deplore, and that the real lesson for consumers is to stop giving outrage the oxygen of attention.
Then there’s Katy Perry’s space tourist episode — a Blue Origin flight that read like a billionaire’s PR stunt disguised as progress. The April 14, 2025 sub-orbital flight carried a high-profile all-female passenger list and drew more eye-rolls than awe, prompting questions about priorities when the spectacle of celebrity outstrips sober debate about national challenges. The flight itself was real and safely returned to Earth, but the optics were disastrous for anyone who believes leadership should be measured by service rather than selfies.
Public reaction proved that Americans are tired of elite performatives that don’t solve problems. Coverage of the space trip and celebrity stunts generated widespread mockery and criticism, showing that the media’s attempt to manufacture heroic narratives around the well-connected can backfire. Conservatives should use that moment to push a different narrative: real achievement is improving lives here at home, not scoring viral moments that make rich people feel noble.
Ben Shapiro’s punchy, unvarnished commentary on these vignettes serves an important function: reminding ordinary citizens that culture is contested, and that mockery and skepticism are patriotic tools when wielded to defend prudence, decency, and common sense. His roundup doesn’t pretend that celebrities don’t matter; it exposes how media and marketing exploit them to distract from inflation, border failure, and the decay of institutions. For conservatives, that’s a message worth amplifying: call out the theater and focus on what keeps families prosperous and safe.
The takeaway for 2026 should be simple and unapologetic: don’t let the elite outrage machine set your agenda. Pay attention to substance — jobs, energy independence, secure borders, and civic integrity — and treat celebrity spectacles for what they are: glossy illusions with big PR budgets. If conservatives can keep the conversation grounded in real-world priorities, the next viral moment will be the country getting back on track, not another billionaire’s vanity project.
