Wikipedia:Hobby, not profession
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Hobbies of celebrities should not be listed as additional professions in the Wikipedia articles about these celebrities. Certainly, there are cases where a celebrity is an accomplished professional in more than one field, as with Jennifer Hudson, who is both an Academy Award-winning actress and a Grammy-Award-winning singer. Hudson should be listed as both an actress and a singer in her article.
However, a celebrity actor should not have "Musician" added to his list of professions if as a hobby, he plays in an amateur, unsigned garage band which plays at the local pub. Similarly, a celebrity musician who does a cameo appearance as herself in a few films should not have "Actress" added to the lead of her article, and a star athlete who pens a vanity press-published novel should not have "novelist" added to the lead of his article.
Celebrity worship[edit]
Western society worships and idolizes celebrities. Famous actors, rock stars and sportspeople get extensive media coverage during events pertaining to their profession, such as award shows, concert appearances and speaking tours. However, this obsessive attention to everything celebrities do extends far beyond their activities in the profession for which they have become famous. There are entire magazines devoted to picture spreads of their luxurious mansions and glamorous lifestyles. Celebrities are photographed by paparazzi when they go out for dinner at a fancy restaurant, go to a VIP nightclub with $1000-a-table bottle service or even when they fill the gas tank of their Lamborghini.
Thus, if a popular actor drives a few stock car races for charity, there will be photos of him in celebrity magazines in a racecar driver's outfit and helmet. Within days, the Wikipedia article for this actor will list "Racecar driver" as one of his professions. Similarly, if a celebrity singer takes up oil painting as a hobby, the Wikipedia article about her/him will soon list "Painter" as one of her professions, even if she has never held an exhibit in a gallery or sold paintings. A much beloved quarterback who rhymes off a few verses on a late-night TV show becomes a rapper.
In some cases, the addition of "professions" to a Wikipedia article about a celebrity can include a long list of hobbies. The lead will state the individual's actual profession followed by a list of hobbies.
Example[edit]
- A Wikipedia article about a well-known, successful actor might begin "Foo Barkley (born 1970) is an American actor, poet, musician, painter and racecar driver...". Later on in the article, the reader discovers that Barkley's single book of poetry was turned down by every publishing company he submitted it to, and then printed for money by a vanity press (which prints anything if you pay them), the weekend garage band he plays in is not signed to a label and only plays in a neighbourhood nightclub's open mic night, he started the hobby of oil painting six months ago and has never had a gallery exhibit or sold a painting, and, well, the only racecar driving he did was a few races in a charity event for a local children's hospital.
- Foo's article should be corrected to focus on the areas in which he is a recognized professional: "Foo Barkley (born 1970) is an American actor best known for his roles in comedy and action films during the early 1990s such as The Kaleidescope Konspiracy IV: The Revenge and Foo You, Man: Foo Live at the Roxy...".
Garage bands[edit]
A celebrity actor who plays in a garage band at his local pub with a few pals on the weekend should not have "Musician" added to the lead of his article and the "profession" section of his article's Infobox. If the garage band in question is not signed to a record label and does not play major tours, then this is a hobby of the celebrity. The correct location for discussing the garage band, if at all, would be in the "Personal life" section of the article. Note that to even discuss the garage band in the "Personal life" section, a reliable, published source would be needed to attest to the existence of the band.
Vanity press[edit]
Certainly, there are celebrity actors and musicians who have written books that have been published by reputable publishing houses. These actors or musicians can appropriately have "Writer", "Novelist" or "Author" added to their list of professions. But if a popular actor pays a vanity press to print his poems, which were turned down by all of the legitimate publishing houses he approached, this actor should not have "Poet" added to his list of professions. He is a professional actor who has a hobby of writing poetry. Likewise, if a celebrity singer pays a vanity press to publish her novel, which was turned down by all the reputable publishers it was submitted to, she should not have "Novelist" added to her list of professions. These celebrities' hobbies can be described–along with other pastimes such as mountain bike riding, horseback riding and downhill skiing–in the "Personal life" section of his or her article.