I will make no secret of the fact I had to look her up to find out who she was. I like The Apprentice TV show, but it is a measure of Hopkins’ profile that I had forgotten all about her (she was a contestant in 2007).
Let’s face facts: none of the people who appear on The Apprentice are normal in the first place. However, if we’re lucky – and of the 156 contestants who have appeared over the series’ lifetime, we have been lucky 155 times – those who appear vanish off the radar within 7 days of being fired (quicker if we’re really lucky).
Katie Hopkins is the one exception. If you read that Wikipedia article, it seems that she has been moderately busy since her Apprentice appearance. She somehow managed to get herself labelled as “a celebrity”, and thus appeared on “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!” and “Celebrity Big Brother”. She writes for The Sun (a right-wing tabloid) and has appeared on Question Time three times, presumably as a result of trying to get into politics in 2009. I note that she was fired by her employer partly as a direct result of her appearance on The Apprentice. She was sacked as a writer for two local (south coast) newspapers following a series of reader complaints and subsequent poll. She is considered to be a “professional troll” by virtue of her obnoxious comments (you can get a rough idea of her politics by imagining UKIP, then taking the mirror image of it, then bending a few bits here and there). She has been investigated by the police for comments she has made about high-profile news stories. Following her failed attempts in the political arena, she seems to be trying again in her characteristic gung ho manner. I saw reports of the latest police incident today, where she appears to have implied that Pakistani men and child abuse go hand-in-hand, while referring to Rochdale. As you can see, Hopkins really is a stellar talent – right up there, alongside David Cameron’s gardener or Nick Clegg’s barber.
This latest incident seems to be linked to another (politically-themed) story a few days ago. Hopkins had stated that she would quit the UK for good if Labour won the next election. My immediate – and I mean instantaneous – thought was “good”. Unfortunately, when I looked at some of the media stories, most of them seemed to have beaten me to the same punch line. Great minds, and all that.
Hopkins is a nobody who insults people whenever she opens her mouth. Most people like that get into fights in dank pubs on on Friday nights, and remain anonymous from their births to their deaths, with their only legacy being a number of unfortunate offspring, already conditioned to carry on the same message.
I can’t help wonder if a layer of artificial celebrity is in any way likely to alter this perpetual cycle.
Note that I used the question in the title in early 2015 and I wasn’t aware that anyone else had (nor do I particularly care). I notice that as of late 2015, various newspapers are also using it. You’re welcome, guys!