I think there's a bit of braggadocio in this community (honestly not referring to you snowperson), about not knowing Kardashian news specifically. It feels to me like it has the flavor of sexism around it but I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's not so much sexism and it's more of a pride in a low-celebrity info diet, but I'm not fully convinced.
I don't generally follow celebrity news, and I select articles from the sources I do use (NYT, WaPo, BBC, Google News) - I just don't have interest in much "celebrity" stuff, so I generally just don't see it. The only recentish celebrity news I remember is an actor accidentally shooting someone on set, and beyond that it took me awhile to remember it was a Baldwin. Alex? Alec? Something like that. If I watch clips from some late-night talk show, I often don't recognize the famous people at all.
Now all that said:
Dolly Parton is an exception, shes just an awesome person - even if she's not really in the news anymore.
Ryan Reynolds is an exception. He's a national treasure and the perfect choice for Deadpool.
I am generally aware of the Kardashians branched out beyond reality TV and some have amassed a financial empire. Can't tell you which ones.
But the news around the Kardashian clan has been so much bigger than just frivolous entertainment news. Kanye ran for president, and there were huge conversations around whether or not he could be a major disrupting force, which was entirely possible, and kind of terrifying since he was in the middle of a psychotic break.
But had be been ever so slightly more sane, he had Musk's endorsement, and could have had a serious impact. I was just kind of holding my breath to see how that played out.
Kim had meetings at the White House and brought attention to prison reform policy, which is a HUGE issue in the US right now, and she single-handedly turned millions of eyes towards it that might have never thought twice about it.
Regardless of how celebrity is obtained, once someone has that much money and that much hold over huge swaths of the population, they are a significant economic and political force.
Elon Musk's influence on things like crypto is largely because of his celebrity. He got his celebrity because of his business accomplishments, but his celebrity alone has an enormous force in and of itself. Same with any other mega celebrity.
When you're that famous, you *are* a platform. Regardless of how you got there.
I couldn't give two shits who's dating who, or who cheated on who, but I definitely take notice of someone who has the power to influence that many people, and how they choose to use or *not* use that influence.
Similarly, I don't know anything about Taylor Swift's music, but I was keenly aware when she made the choice to go from being apolitical to heavily promoting her pro-LGBTQ+ values, which was significant as she had been an alt-right, neo-nazi icon for years.