Truth be told, a lot of casual passersby have been “teargassed” in their day. Shit, if you were in any French city at the height of the gilets jaunes protests, you were likely to have been “gassed”—that is to say, you probably passed through the aftermath of a major spraying. It feels like this was what Jared Leto was experiencing, despite his grand, melodramatic claims of “got teargassed then called it a night.”
The accompanying video he used to illustrate his claim didn’t show any signs of the distinctive smoky air that comes with teargas. In this sense, his claims come across a lot like Tai’s “brush with death” at the mall in Clueless (a movie title seemingly hand-picked for Leto’s entire aura). And then there’s the fact that he felt safe and at ease enough to document the protest’s melées on his phone and post it to Instagram stories (#activism). Embodying something like a grown-up Jordan Catalano (therefore slightly dense and vacuous), Leto noted of the violent protests, “From what I gather it was about vaccine mandates/green pass.” Yes, you think? But that’s the thing about celebrities and most visiting tourists from America—they never seem to have a clue about what the fuck is going on outside their hotel bubble.
Protests were spurred by the announcement of the Italian government’s requirement for all workers to be vaccinated by October 15, lest they risk being suspended from their workplace for five days without pay. Considered to be one of the most extreme COVID mandates in the world, the far-right trolls, led by Forza Nuova and a campaign called No Vax (somewhat ironic considering the vaccine company called No[va]vax), marched through the streets in droves, homing in on Piazza del Popolo to express their contempt for the new law. For added bizarreness, Nancy Pelosi happened to be nearby at a Mass in San Patrizio Church, and obviously she probably got some Capitol riot PTSD—which is why she and her husband were promptly escorted out of the space by security.
And, speaking of the Capitol riots, the leader of Italy’s center-left Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, commented, “Neo-fascist groups have tried to use the delicate situation to engage in acts of insurgency. It is neither more nor less than what happened in the United States on January 6.” Hence, a major call to ban neo-fascist groups altogether, as though they won’t just retreat deeper into the underground only to rise up with a horrifying vengeance after being “stifled.”
Leto, meanwhile, mucked about somewhat carefreely as he documented a brief blip from the scuffles, perhaps seeking inspiration for a new 30 Seconds to Mars song. In truth, it feels like another form of a privileged white man trying to get in on the bandwagon of some kind of oppression, complete with his deliberately “casual” add-in about being teargassed. Unfortunately for Leto’s “cause,” he didn’t seem to grasp that people who are genuinely teargassed aren’t casual about it.
While one might assume the former Joker was in Rome for a House of Gucci endeavor, he was apparently there for 30 Seconds to Mars-related reasons. As for being somewhat daft enough to not take note there would be protests going on, his level of oblivion smacked of that time he reemerged from a meditation retreat to the new world order invoked by COVID-19, still exerting its effects across the globe one year on. Though Leto continues to be processing the memo. As for House of Gucci, Leto relished the chance, like many prosthetic-loving actors, to take on a role that would require so much trucco-oriented flair.
Alas, his presence in the movie only adds to the denigration of Italian culture as “interpreted” (a.k.a. bastardized) by Americans. Because honestly, why do we need a movie of faux Italians (a.k.a. Italian-Americans) speaking in English with an atrocious, offensively-delivered accent to somehow lend “credibility” to the narrative? Answer: we don’t. And the Guccis certainly feel the same, even if for different reasons, with Patrizia Gucci (Guccio Gucci’s great-granddaughter) declaring, “They are stealing the identity of a family to make a profit, to increase the income of the Hollywood system… Our family has an identity, privacy. We can talk about everything. but there is a borderline that cannot be crossed.” Just as Leto’s own borderline not to be crossed was actually lingering in the crowd long enough to experience a real teargassing. Which the Guccis might account for as part of karmic retribution. Italians, after all, are big believers in the malocchio.
