- Celebrity lip reading has become a social media trend
- Margaret Qualley and Emma Stone ‘tense’ exchange prompted this community
- Lip-reading is unnecessary and invasive for several reasons
Celebrity lip readers, it’s time for you to go mute.
No, but seriously, the bizarre rise of celebrity lip readers has become a journalistic and social media trend. Lip readers have infiltrated celebrity conversations and interactions online, over-analyzing simple moments. They have made mundane moments into something bigger than they are. Look at a conversation between actresses Margaret Qualley and Emma Stone at the Oscars. The clip of a conversation where fans thought they were fighting went viral and the words exchanged were analyzed by celebrity lip readers online.
The Margaret Qualley and Emma Stone interaction
One lip reader even made a fist into the camera to signify that the two were fighting, albeit jokingly as part of their “aggressive friendship” but still. Lip readers had conflicting conclusions about the interaction. The point? Reading lips in private conversations is weird and invasive. And it also isn’t foolproof!
Many outlets concluded the actresses were bantering, but that doesn’t stop the harmful narrative. Qualley and Stone have been friends since starring in Kinds of Kindness together in 2024. Pictures of them show they’re friendly!
There were photos of the actresses in close quarters where they looked as if they were having a tense exchange. A celebrity lip reader told The Daily Mail that it looked like “Margaret is about to square up” to Stone, which isn’t true and has not been proven. There is no context provided even if the lip reader then said they are friends. Their thoughts on the video are contradicting and confusing.
Celebrity lip readers and the media know fans want drama, and what better way to stir up drama than creating a narrative?
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Context is needed to understand what is being said in lip reading. When stories are written about celebrities, sources must verify the information. Celebrity lip readers go off their interpretations of words and body language, which is not always the truth.
Here’s why they’re so unnecessary but are on the rise online.
The rise of celebrity lip readers in pop culture
Lip reading has been in professions like law enforcement and education for a long time. In these environments, it is necessary if individuals cannot understand what someone has said or if speech is being used for evidence. Lip readers help with translating speech in these cases.
However, in pop culture celebrity lip readers and lip-reading have morphed into something different. They have become a part of entertainment and a way for fans to learn about celebrities and their interactions. But the problem is celebrities do not consent to this.
Celebrities are public figures and subject to public opinion because they put themselves in the spotlight. Regardless, they do not deserve to have personal conversations analyzed online. Fans come to conclusions about what is said and what conversations mean without any evidence, which is unfair to celebrities.
For some fans, it may be a bit of fun. For others, it has become a tool for speculation about celebrities’ lives.
One prominent celebrity lip reader on TikTok is tismejackieg. They have reached almost a million followers from their lip-reading videos. These videos gradually gained traction and other celebrity lip readers have popped up on the app as demand for this type of content grows.
You can’t necessarily blame people for buying into this viral niche, but to do it with every celebrity interaction is bizarre.
It is an invasion of privacy
Emma Stone and Margaret Qualley’s case
In the case of Qualley and Stone, it is an invasion of privacy. The celebrity lip reader who analyzed their interaction implies that Qualley looked at Stone with “mean girl” energy towards her. First of all, looks aren’t related to lip-reading, and secondly, there is no way of verifying that.
Interactions behind the scenes at an award show aren’t meant for public consumption. Even if this happened at an Oscars afterparty, it is still happening in a private place. These videos analyzing Qualley and Stone have invaded their privacy to an unimaginable degree and should not be published.
Made for profit
On TikTok, celebrity lip readers have seen their videos do well with views and engagement. This is because they encourage speculation. A lip reader will read conversations online that are interesting because it is more likely to bring them engagement and money.
It’s the same as when people do trends online because they will gain views and money. The lip readers can essentially commodify celebrity interactions and turn them into a source of income, which is wrong and exploitative.
Are they always accurate?
Social media creates narratives and stories without facts. Celebrity lip readers are no different. Subtle movements of the mouth and gestures can be misinterpreted especially without audio. Therefore, the accuracy of celebrity lip readers is debatable, at best.
Someone can claim to be a great lip reader but they can easily mistranslate something. A mistranslation can lead to a wild or scandalous accusation by the lip reader or fans about the celebrity. Unless a celeb verifies their words, there’s no way of knowing if a lip reader is accurate.
Fans and the media must not encourage this
The trend is harmful and lip readers are unnecessary. Consumers love to look into the personal lives of celebrities, but it must stop. The public should question how long they will allow a voyeuristic trend like this. Speculation from fans on celebrity conversations must stop. Lip readers should also stop analyzing every conversation with celebrities and rely on filling in the blanks to create a narrative.
Additionally, the public must minimize the impact of celebrity lip readers by not engaging with the content once and for all!
