We Need to Be Bullying Political Nepo Babies More

If we do it to Colin Hanks we should be doing it to Jack Schlossberg.

Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust

It’s extremely rare, in this era of rapid trends and constant communication that a piece of new terminology survives longer than, say, a year. It’s even rarer to be able to basically pin its provenance to a single source. Somehow, “nepo baby” transcends both of those unlikelihoods.

While it had been floating in the ether for a while, the term fully entered the common vernacular after a now somewhat iconic 2022 Vulture spread on the subject. You can actually see this in a measurable way via Google Trends.

I can’t imagine I need to explain the term, but just in case: nepo babies are the offspring of the rich and famous, who benefit tremendously from that wealth and fame in forging careers of their own. Nepo babies existed long before 2022, but they didn’t have a catchy term ascribed to them and they didn’t wield nearly as much power as they do now, when it’s much easier to become well-known in infamy, as an influencer, or for simple proximity and an ability to take a hot photo. They are simply everywhere.

Since 2022, many nepo babies have been asked to publicly address their crimes. Some have fared better than others. By now, the conversation around the subject has sort of exhausted itself. Like, yeah, no shit, the children of celebrities have innumerable advantages and we only know their names because of their parents. Most of them are on some scale between zero percent talented to moderately talented. A rare few offer something more, though they are still privileged. What can you do? Case closed!

It’s hard to care too much about this because, well, the world at large is unfair. Not news! It’s also hard to care about this because celebrity nepo babies don’t really matter. If they matter to you, that is a choice. I don’t need to follow Brooklyn Beckham on Instagram and I don’t watch Stranger Things, so Maya Hawke’s relative talents aren’t relevant to my life.

Still, we make these (mostly) young adults address their entitlement, probably because it’s fun to do so. That’s all fine and good, but what I can’t understand is why we haven’t applied the same interest and rigor when it comes to political nepo babies. There are so many political nepo babies. They also run rampant, amassing untold wealth and power, sucking attention, and having a far greater influence on our material lives. And we continue to just let it happen!

For a country without monarchies, we sure do love families running shit across generations, allowing bloodlines to chart the course for the rest of us. The Roosevelts, the Bushes, the Adams, and of course, the Kennedys, who have a new progeny officially setting his sights on public office.