This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s senior fall editorial intern Dalal Daher. Find her on Instagram at @dalalllldaher. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
The famous “Rachel” haircut from the 90’s. Audrey Hepburn’ s little black dress in the 1961 hit movie “Breakfast At Tiffany’s.” Kylie Jenner’s signature overlined lips. Aspiring to look like celebrities and emulating their iconic style, beauty regimen, and makeup routine is nothing new. Yet, in the age of social media, celebrity obsession and imitation has been amplified to an even more disturbing level. Celebrity copycats are out of control.
To be clear, I’m not talking about harmless celebrity lookalike competitions, the viral contests where you get to prove to your skeptical friends in front of thousands that when that one Tinder date told you you kind of looked like Timothee Chalamet, she was totally right (and then, as a bonus, you get to sneak the experience into every conversation). I’m also not talking about emulating a celebrity’s makeup, trying to dress up as them for Halloween, or even professional celebrity impersonators (after all, people get married by ‘Elvis’ in Vegas all the time).
I think the danger of celebrity lookalikes comes from the intersection of social media and our society’s overwhelming interest in the every detail of a celebrity’s life, which gives rise to celebrity copycats that milk their similar features in more bizarre ways. A great example of dangerous celebrity emulation in the modern day is Paige Neimann, a 20 year old TikToker who went viral for her resemblance to pop superstar Ariana Grande. I understand the initial interest in Neimann’s uncanny emulation of Grande’s look-especially since the latter is synonymous with her iconic ponytail and winged eyeliner combination. However, the issue is that thanks to the internet, Neimann managed to impersonate Grande to a frankly disturbing degree, as well as make a profit.
Almost all of Neimann’s posts copied Grande exactly: as the singer has changed her look, going blonde for her recent Wicked film and drastically changing her makeup (as noted by fans), Neimann has done the same. When Grande went on SNL as part of the viral ‘Domingo’ skit, Neimann was quick to post a video recreating it. When Ariana Grande posted her wedding pictures, Neimann recreated them down to the pose.
While her TikTok and Instagram pages were banned to to impersonation as of November 19, 2024 and have drawn allegations of being ‘creepy’, Neimann still leveraged the juxtaposition of her resemblance to Grande and the internet’s fascination with it (and Grande’s enduring fame) to achieve fame in a way that was disrespectful of Grande. Beyond imitating her every move for years, she also started an OnlyFans in September 2022 where she posted pictures- you guessed it- impersonating Grande.
The Grande-Neimann situation epitomizes in my eyes the danger of celebrity copycats. Thanks to both a resemblance she maximized to an uncanny degree and the internet’s longstanding celebrity obsessions, Paige Neimann was able to curate a social media following of millions as she posted explicit and incessant content impersonating Ariana Grande. And Grande’s not the only one to be copycatted. Megastar Taylor Swift also has a social media doppelganger: Ashley Leechin, a 30 year old nurse who posts videos copying Swift’s signature red lip, hairstyle, poses, and even videos with her cats. Leechin got backlash for dressing up as Swift and walking with ‘bodyguards’ through crowded LA hotspot and outdoor shopping mall The Grove in 2023.
So why do celebrity doppelgangers even matter? I feel like it’s a matter of principle. To be able to imitate anyone for years and post explicit content, or even just copy them intentionally for years under the guise of entertainment feels immoral, especially when that celebrity hasn’t consented to it. I’m not really sure what’s more disturbing: the fact that there’s such a market for ongoing celebrity copycats- with Leechin having almost 200K followers on Instagram and Neimann having had millions, even walking a runway at 2023 NYFW– or the fact that some people excuse it due to celebrity worship.
It’s also pretty crazy to me that just looking like a celebrity can garner more monetization than a simple lookalike contest or even 9-5 as an impersonator. To me, being able to copy someone’s evolving look and lifestyle as your sole social media brand and amass millions of fans feels like a strangely derivative form of celebrity worship. Why are we obsessed with people who happen to look like other famous people? They’re not even the famous ones! The beauty of celebrity doppelgangers in lookalike contests or Vegas weddings, is the knowledge that they’re not trying to copy the celebrities’ lifestyle but simply having fun. It feels interesting to see someone who happens to look like Billie Eilish on TikTok, but weird and creepy to follow someone who’s striving to look like her every minute appearance changes.
In my opinion it boils down to this. We’re getting way too comfortable on the internet, and parasocial relationships- or one-sided connections with another person- are so commonplace that celebrity obsession is normalized. But we overall should not be so obsessed with a celebrity that happening to look like one is grounds for enduring overnight fame. And we definitely shouldn’t be comfortable enough to excuse any violations of privacy or consent as artistic license. Celebrity copycats in themselves aren’t bad. But when taken to the level of Paige Neimann and Ariana Grande, I think it’s dangerous for our perception of social relationships and boundaries.
Have you seen any creepy celeb look a likes? What do you think about this?
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