Cameo and Celebrities: The Latest Kremlin Propaganda Weapon

If you’re relatively new to the issues related to Kremlin propaganda and how it’s affecting other countries (including the United States), I recommend reading some background posts I wrote that explains things in more detail along with links to other sites where you can read more to educate yourself.

For decades it has been conventional wisdom that if you want to have your cause amplified, the best way to do it is to include celebrities. Whether it's Harry Belafonte promoting civil rights or John Travolta's involvement with Scientology, the media is more likely to pay attention to a rock star or Hollywood actor speaking out on a cause than to a non-famous supporter of that same cause.

When it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, you are far more likely to see a celebrity like Paul McCartney or Sean Penn siding with Ukraine. So far it looks like the Russians only have famous people like Roger Waters and Steven Seagal siding with them. When it comes to the celebrity endorsements (like U2 and Madonna), the Ukrainians are clearly ahead.

Apparently the Russians have decided that if they can't get celebrities to go willingly on their side, they'll just manufacture willing pro-Russia celebrities without their full consent. And they found the perfect platform to do just that.

Cameo is a platform that many famous people use as a way of earning extra income. It's especially useful if that famous person hasn't found new work recently and that person needs to raise money fast to do things like paying their bills. For a fee, a person can hire a celebrity on Cameo to make a personalized video message for things like wishing someone a happy birthday or expressing congratulations on a recent wedding or business promotion. It's usually innocuous stuff like that.

Now Cameo is being used as a weapon of Kremlin propaganda. In recent months Kremlin-connected clients have used Cameo to get celebrities to make personalized video messages. These celebrities were originally hired to make a personalized message to someone named “Vladimir” urging him to seek help for his substance abuse issues. The messages were then edited to imply that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is an alcoholic and drug addict and were subsequently uploaded online.

One such victim of this latest Kremlin shenanigans is the actor Elijah Wood. Newsweek has a detailed analysis of Wood's Cameo video that seems to show Wood urging Zelenskyy to seek help for his substance abuse problems. There is plenty of evidence that this particular video was faked with Wood's original message being entirely distorted and taken out of its original context. Wood has since stopped using Cameo.

It looks like from now on celebrities who use Cameo should steer clear of any paying clients asking them to make messages for Vladimir asking him to seek help for his substance abuse.

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