Updated: 2 days ago
By Johnny Hawke:
Settler societies have long perfected the tactic of elevating select individuals from marginalized communities into highly visible positions. These figures become symbols of inclusion while the underlying power structure remains unchanged — a classic combination of tokenism, co-optation, controlled opposition through selective elevation.
Celebrity Worship functions similarly to what Indigenous scholars identify as performative reconciliation. The dominant culture celebrates symbolic diversity, equality and inclusion, while treaties are violated, pipelines approved, treaties and Indigenous women continue to disappear. In this way, celebrity culture becomes a soft-power arm of colonialism: it absorbs dissent, markets rebellion, and sells the feeling of change without delivering it.
These gestures often remain safely within capitalist spectacle. Their resistance is aesthetic, and becomes a brand and a trend. Indigenous liberation has never been about visibility alone; it has always been about land, jurisdiction, and survival against a system designed to erase us.
Indigenous theory also rejects hero worship outright. Our political traditions emphasize collectivity over saviours, responsibility over spectacle. Elevating any single figure—politician or pop star—risks reproducing the colonial logic that liberation arrives through exceptional individuals rather than collective struggle. Real resurgence does not come from representation within colonial systems, but from rebuilding Indigenous life outside them.
We remember how quickly “hope” is mobilized to silence dissent. How easily success stories are used to shame those still resisting.
In this light, celebrity worship—no matter how progressive it appears—becomes another distraction from uncomfortable truths. A world that can celebrate radical aesthetics while maintaining colonial foundations is not changing; it is adapting.
From this perspective, the warning is clear: Representation without land back, without sovereignty, without dismantling colonial power, is not liberation. It is spectacle and spectacle has always been one of colonialism’s most effective tools.
The fixation on pop-culture icons, celebrities or singular leaders reproduces a colonial fantasy: that liberation arrives through representation rather than the dismantling of colonial power. Celebrity worship thus becomes a form of ideological containment. Pride is commodified; resistance is branded; history is sanitized. As critics of neoliberal multiculturalism have observed, symbolic victories are economically profitable precisely because they leave structural inequalities untouched. The celebration of racial or cultural “firsts” becomes a substitute for confronting land restitution, sovereignty, and systemic violence.
This doesn’t mean our people never honoured excellence. We absolutely did. But it was not this colonial tool of religious indoctrination of worship used to program and control the masses.
IDOL'S NO MORE - HYPOCRISY WITHIN DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION
While individuals have every right to pursue their own professional paths, we must ensure that the principles underpinning our resistance to colonialism do not become symbolic gestures — Principles set aside when celebrating the diversity, equity and inclusion within colonial institutions.
For many Indigenous societies across Turtle Island, leadership was often situational, earned, and accountable — not permanent fame status. When Christianity and European political systems arrived, they brought different cultural frameworks:
Monarch worship
Hero-centered religious narrative (singular savior theology)
Individualistic liberal political identity (the “great man” theory of history)
Later, capitalist media culture — mass printing, photography, newspapers, film
The following critique is not directed at the individual or their accomplishments but is an analysis of the phenomenon of celebrity worship in our communities; idolizing those in the very colonial institutions we claim we are against and or dismantling.
IN POLITICS
In the past decade, we have seen historic “firsts”: Indigenous women at the helm of Canada’s Justice System and at Rideau Hall; the first female National Chief and female Grand Chiefs; and the first Status Indian elected Premier of a province.
Despite such Individuals sitting at the helm of power, Indigenous rights protectd by Canada's supreme law were violated on numerous occasions as seen in the SCC's decisions in Chippewas of the Thames First Nation v. Enbridge Pipelines Inc in 2017.
The old adage of “We must make change within the system” is projected like propaganda on others by those comfortably situated in the system and is only a lie. This cliche encourages blind faith that shuts down critical thinking and encourages obedience and stems from religious indoctrination.
The interconnected global political, legal and economic “system” that governs all nation states has been created over millennia where royal bloodlines, fraternal orders, oaths, rites, rituals and blackmail ensure that the “system” can not be changed from within. Our People within "the system" only become part of this system of war, profit, patriarchy, misogyny and enslavement and only function as lower level servants and or puppets seen as public figures, idols and celebrities.
Wabanakwut "Wab" Kinew assumed office as NDP Premier of Manitoba on October 18, 2023.
Before entering politics, Kinew was an author, hiphop artist, broadcaster and university administrator, best known as a host of programming on CBC Radio and CBC Television.
For many in the larger Indigenous Community, Wab Kinew has definitely become an "Idol", Cultural "Hero" and Celebrity type figure.
Premier Wab Kinew lives a sober life and is strongly immersed in his Anishinabe Spirituality and Culture despite this Wab is doing what premiers do: protecting jobs. His support for keeping Crown Royal on shelves in Ontario safeguards employment for dozens of workers in Gimli and strengthens Manitoba’s economic position.
For many Indigenous people, alcohol is intertwined with intergenerational struggle and where Indigenous spirituality and decolonization movements emphasize sobriety, healing, and resistance to alcohol including the financial profits of it. These factors raise some inconsistencies within our decolonization principles. Why do we apply different moral standards depending on who holds power? If we celebrate leaders navigating contradiction, then we must also extend compassion to those fighting both colonial systems and personal battles at the same time.
A grassroots land defender who slips is told to step down. A community organizer battling alcohol is told they represent the movement poorly while the collective will give a pass to power where there is always a double standard for those put on a pedestal.
Decolonization movements fail when they reproduce the same stratifications they claim to dismantle. If we are serious about decolonization, then we must interrogate not just the state — but ourselves. Otherwise, our movement is not revolutionary just a hierarchy.
IN ENTERTAINMENT
Entertainment have long be used by the ruling class to distract and influence the masses and for propaganda efforts. Today’s Sports, Music, Film, Media are all part of the Entertainment Industry which are all used to control the population. Entertainment has been a very powerful effective tool to neutralize liberation and decolonization movements around the world.
In the 1970’s Hip-hop was born in the Bronx as resistance — a cultural response to poverty, state violence, and abandonment. But when N.W.A rose to prominence, gangsta rap became the industry’s preferred export. Driven by Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella, their music exposed police brutality and life in South Central Los Angeles — but it also mainstreamed hyper violence, misogyny, selling drugs and drug use as cultural identity.
The industry learned: trauma sells better than liberation.
Tupac Shakur spoke truth about systemic injustice, yet some of his lyrics still framed women as disposable, sex objects and encouraged the silencing of victims of rape in one of his top of the chart songs. "I get Around." The feud with The Notorious B.I.G. became spectacle, fuelling real-world black on black violence while corporations profited.
Snoop Dogg — another global icon widely idolized — built much of his early career on a “pimp” persona and lyrics saturated with derogatory language that reduced women to objects or targets of violence. While he has spoken about personal growth and evolving views toward women, those early messages remain embedded in popular culture.
For Indigenous peoples, the issue extends beyond misogyny. Snoop Dogg has publicly worn Plains-style headdresses — sacred ceremonial items — as costume, and jokingly claimed affiliation with a fictional “knock-a-hoe tribe.” Such actions reduce Indigenous identity to stereotype and spectacle, turning sacred culture into entertainment while real Indigenous communities face violence, poverty, and erasure.
Powerful industry architects — including Russell Simmons, Sean 'Diddy' Combs, and R. Kelly — have faced serious allegations and, in some cases, convictions related to sexual abuse. The pattern crosses genres, decades, and generations.
Hyper-sexualization and Objectification: Since the rise of gangsta rap in the late 1980s and 90s, the portrayal of women has shifted toward objectification, where they are often depicted as tools for male pleasure, rather than artists. Mainstream Female Hip-Hop Artists like Lil Kim, Eve, Rihanna, Niki Minaj, Dojo Cat, tried to reclaim womanhood, femininity and sexuality but failed as obviously they continue to operate as industry tokens and personification of exploitation.
This is not about individual villains. It is about systems that reward harm. From the 1990s to today, mainstream hip-hop has too often normalized: Misogyny, Exploitation, Substance, Violence, Homophobia.
For Indigenous communities facing addiction crises and the ongoing epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people, these messages are not abstract. Culture shapes behaviour. What we celebrate becomes what we tolerate.
Decolonization cannot coexist with idol worship of men who embody patriarchy. Resistance cannot thrive while misogyny is our soundtrack.
IN HOLLYWOOD
The film industry has long operated as a machinery of myth — manufacturing heroes on screen while protecting predators behind it. For decades, powerful men controlled access to careers, funding, publicity, and survival itself. Silence was not consent — it was the price of working.
The global rupture came with the exposure of Harvey Weinstein, whose decades of alleged sexual abuse were an open secret in Hollywood. When survivors finally spoke publicly in 2017, the #MeToo movement exploded, revealing that Weinstein was not an anomaly but a symptom. Actors, assistants, models, and crew described a system where coercion, assault, and retaliation were normalized tools of power.
Weinstein’s downfall triggered a cascade. Prominent figures across film, television, and music faced allegations ranging from sexual harassment and assault. Some careers collapsed. Others quietly recovered. The system endured.
Parallel to this reckoning was the unraveling of the network surrounding financier Jeffrey Epstein — a man whose wealth purchased proximity to presidents, royalty, billionaires, scientists, and celebrities. Epstein was convicted of sex crimes involving minors in 2008, yet continued to move freely among the global elite for years afterward.
The entertainment industry intersects with this world because it shares the same currency: access. Careers can be made or destroyed by gatekeepers. Young performers — especially girls — are often isolated from support systems, dependent on powerful adults for opportunity, and pressured to remain silent to avoid blacklisting.
While Hollywood publicly embraces empowerment narratives, its economic structure still concentrates decision-making power in the hands of a small elite — overwhelmingly male, wealthy, and protected by legal teams, non-disclosure agreements, and reputation management industries.
#MeToo exposed the violence. The Epstein case exposed the scale. Neither dismantled the system that enabled them.
For Indigenous communities, these revelations resonate painfully. Colonial violence has always been tied to control over Indigenous women’s bodies — from residential schools to forced sterilization to the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people. When global elites are exposed for exploiting vulnerable girls, it echoes patterns our communities know too well: power preying on those deemed disposable.
This is not about a few “bad men.” It is about structures that reward silence and punish truth.
Hollywood sells liberation stories while protecting hierarchies built on exploitation.
Fame becomes armor. Money becomes erasure. Public image becomes a shield against accountability. The lesson is not to abandon art — it is to stop confusing celebrity with moral authority.
Before Lily Gladstone, Blackfeet Nation, was nominated for an Oscar for Killers of the Flower Moo there was Misty Upham of the same Blackfeet Nation. Misty was an up and coming awar wining star in Holywood who died under vague circumstances.
"My daughter, Misty Upham, was a victim of rape by a Weinstein Executive in 2013 at the Golden Globe Awards. The rapist forced her into the men’s room and had his way while other men in formal wear cheered him on as if he were chugging a beer in a contest. As Misty made the walk of shame back to the event, the Exec was given high fives, bragging rights and another notch in his Weinstein Co. belt. What should have been an auspicious occasion for Misty turned into a nightmare of pain, humiliation, fear and anxiety."
- Charles Upham (Misty's Father)
"Misty’s experience with Harvey Weinstein left her with the impression that he was a powerful man with many influential connections and could make people disappear. Once while riding in a limo with Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Weinstein and his assistant, somewhere between Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah, the assistant interrupted Weinstein and Tarantino’s conversation in a matter of urgent business; at which point Harvey Weinstein ordered the driver to stop and subsequently kicked his assistant out of the car in the middle of no where during a snow storm amidst subzero temperatures. Misty commented, “What if he freezes to death?” Weinstein retorted “ Somebody will come along and pick him up!”
Indeed, a year after the alleged rape at the Golden Globe Awards, Misty Upham “disappeared.” - Accounts shared by Misty to her Father Charles Upham.
On October 5, the Django Unchained actress went missing from her Auburn home. On October 16, friends and family searching for Misty found her body in a ravine near the White River, about 30 miles south of Seattle. The medical examiner ruled her cause of death due to blunt force injuries to her head and torso.
Hollywood Insider's have long exposed the problematic unseen world of Hollywood which exploded through the MeToo movement.
Survivors spoke. Records surfaced. Names were known. Yet the machinery of power continues to function. True accountability would require more than public apologies and career pauses. It would require dismantling the systems that allow men with influence to operate above consequence. Until then, the myth persists: heroes on screen, impunity behind it.
IN MODELLING AND FASHION INDUSTRY
Women’s bodies have been policed, erased, exploited, trafficked, enslaved, and abused for centuries. As part of a broader decolonization movement, women have been reclaiming their sexuality and bodily autonomy on their own terms. In the past decade, Indigenous women have not simply entered mainstream beauty and fashion spaces — they have pushed their way in, busted down the doors, and demanded to stand front and centre.
Yet these industries are built upon the very misogyny and patriarchy they claim to escape.
If Indigenous women refuse mainstream platforms altogether, they risk remaining invisible within global narratives shaped by others. But liberation cannot be fully realized through institutions rooted in exploitation, misogyny and patriarchy. The contradiction is structural, not personal.
An Indigenous woman becomes a symbol of empowerment. The magazine gains cultural relevance. The brand profits. The system remains intact.
Mainstream beauty pageantry, modelling, swimsuit magazines and fashion are aesthetic arms of white supremacy, colonialism, and patriarchy. These industries were built to manufacture desirability around whiteness and to discipline everyone else into orbit around it.
Proximity to whiteness is the currency. Light skin is leverage. Thinness is compliance. Ambiguity is marketable. Authenticity is a threat.
Indigenous and Black women whose features cannot be softened, thinned, straightened, or lightened are not simply overlooked — they are structurally excluded. Real bodies disrupt the hierarchy, so the hierarchy erases them and when erasure fails, fetishization begins.
Indigenous women are cast through colonial fantasies: the “Pocahontas,” the squaw, the mystical guide, the sexually available native body existing outside modern time. Black women are cycled through parallel archetypes — hypersexual, maternal, aggressive, consumable.
Quannah Chassinghorse, has been knocking down barriers and represending our Peoplein the elite Fashion world as a Super Model. She has attended such Fashion elite function as the Met Gala for years, representing prestigious Fashionista's and our People.
From that lens, the Met Gala isn’t just a party — it’s a ritual of power. It’s the cultural wing of global capital. It’s sponsored by luxury conglomerates, attended by CEOs, financiers, politicians. So the critique says: You don’t disrupt the palace by attending the ball.You validate the palace by showing up. Movements get absorbed all the time.
Radical language becomes branding. “Decolonize” becomes a fashion theme. Indigenous beadwork becomes haute couture. Resistance aesthetics get stripped of their political teeth and re-sold as style.
Ashley Callingbull is a Canadian beauty pageant titleholder. She was the first Indigenous First Nations woman to become a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model. She also was crowned Miss Universe Canada 2024 and represented her country at Miss Universe 2024, where she finished in the Top 12. From that vantage point, something like Sports Illustrated Swimsuit isn’t just a magazine spread — it’s an institution built on commodifying bodies for profit. It exists inside a media economy that monetizes patriarchy. Even when branding shifts toward “empowerment,” this medium emerged from a system that objectifies women. Representation doesn’t erase that origin story.
If we are against patriarchy, commodification of bodies, and Eurocentric standards — then holding up Role Models and Icons in the dominant eurocentric male corporate sexualized media platforms risks legitimizing the very systems we claim to resist.
ACTIVISM FOR SALE AND THE CELEBRITY ACTIVIST PROBLEM
The Non-Profit Industrial Complex is a system where activism becomes professionalized, funded, branded, and sometimes detached from grassroots realities. The modern colonial state no longer needs only police and prisons; It has foundations, NGOs, advisory councils, diversity panels, and funded advocacy.
Welcome to the Non-Profit Industrial Complex — the sanitized, well-funded, media-friendly arm of colonial control. A system that packages our suffering, markets it, and sells it back to us in glossy reports and creates individuals that become
celebrity type-figures in activism.
In this industry, activism is no longer a responsibility. It’s a product. Individuals are branded, coached, groomed, and paraded on global stages. Anything too disruptive, too radical is filtered out. Activists are elevated, idolized, celebrated. Their faces are on banners. Their names are hashtags. They speak on International Stages, feted by ministers and sponsored by foundations. The system brands them; Media narratives transform the activist into symbols. Communities worship them, fair critique becomes taboo and many other Grassroots voices are sidelined.
This Non Profit Industry also operates as an internalized oppression where there exists an in-crowd of gatekeepers, darlings of the foundations and NGO’s. Inside these activist spaces, the hierarchy and elitism persists. Communities internalize this: If the world applauds them, we must worship these Idols. Applause replaces accountability. Fame replaces collective struggle. This is not liberation, this is internalized colonialism.
Autumn Peltier (born 2004) is an Anishinaabe water rights activist from Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island who gained international attention as a youth advocate for clean drinking water in Indigenous communities. Inspired by her great-aunt Josephine Mandamin, she confronted leaders like Justin Trudeau and spoke at the United Nations at age 13, becoming a high-profile public figure in global environmental activism. In 2019 she was appointed Chief Water Commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation and has received numerous recognitions, including being named to BBC’s 100 Women list and receiving the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers for her advocacy.
Although Autumn's passion for her culture and advocacy work comes from the heart and how she was raised in her culture her elevation as a High-Profiled Activist has not been totally organic. Where most young activist's and organizers may also be engaged in our movements and culture and protection of the lands and waters, Autumn has had a network and "handlers" providing her access to prominent platforms. The Union of Ontario Indians at an Assembly of First Nations General Meetings allocated time for her to be on a national stage to speak to then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She also has a professional international management agency which includes a Public Relations team that many young Indigenous Youth do not have access to.
Again I have to take the time to share this key reminder that this is paper is not a personal attack on individuals and their achievements. This is a collective critique on the specific aspects within our Decolonization Movement and Resistance.
In 2021 Youth of my Community were organizing a Youth Gathering to protect a local Water source. Together we reached out to Autumn Peltier to attend and her manager informed us she requires a $10,000 fee to come "In Person" which did not include accommodations.
Charging high speaking fees to our youth and people by individuals who hold prominent public advocacy is unacceptable. While we respect their accomplishments and influence, many of our communities face chronic poverty and making such fees financially inaccessible to the very communities these advocates represent is atrocious. When grassroots Nations must divert scarce resources from essential needs to host speakers, it raises questions about equity, accessibility, and the ethical responsibilities of leadership. While fair compensation from universities, corporations, and governments is reasonable, we believe impoverished Nations should not bear this burden. Such "Handlers" of these individuals need to provide a sliding-scale fee structure to ensure grassroots and low-income First Nations can participate in vital conversations without financial hardship.
Ta'Kaiya Blaney (born 2001) is a Tla A'min First Nations singer-songwriter, actress, and environmental activist from British Columbia, Canada. Known for her early activism at age 10, she is a UN Youth Ambassador, focusing on indigenous rights, climate justice, and protecting the Salish Sea.
The difference in how Autumn Peltier and Ta'Kaiya Blaney are recognized illustrates a familiar pattern within settler colonial politics. Both are Indigenous youth advocating for the protection of water and land, yet only one has been widely embraced more by global institutions such as the United Nations and World Economic Forum. Peltier’s message, framed as a moral appeal for environmental responsibility, fits comfortably within existing institutional narratives. Blaney, however, directly links ecological destruction to colonial occupation, fossil fuel economies, and Indigenous sovereignty — positions that challenge the legitimacy of the system itself. In this way, recognition becomes political. Settler institutions often celebrate Indigenous voices that ask the system to do better, while marginalizing those who question whether that system should hold authority over Indigenous lands at all and marginalizes more assertive direct voices.
PUTTING THE CULT IN CULTURE - ACTIVIST CULTS
Isaac Murdoch an Anishinabe from Serpant RIver, First Nation who grew up not in the bush on the trap line as he tells his mass following but family members share he was raised in the city of Sakatchewan with his Mother. Issac is a highly respected indigenous storyteller, activist and keynote speaker whose work has earned him recognition throughout many mainstream Canadian Institutions He is known for his advocacy for social justice and environmental preservation, as well as his commitment to preserving indigenous culture and knowledge.
He and Metis Artist Christi Belcourt exploded all over the Idle No More co-opted Movement in 2012 and both have become leaders in Culture, Arts and Activism since.
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In Feburary 2026, Juno News, a Right Wing Media outlet obtained financial records through freedom of information of an Ontario School Board who has spent over $570K on Issac Murdoch’s delivery of cultural knowledge since 2022.
While many found issue on this issue being raised by a right wing publication and whereas the journalist is claimed to be a denier of issues with Residential Schools, the concern at hand within our movement is about ethical consistency in political messaging, regardless of who reports financial records.
Isaac through his social media has been telling his mass followers to cut up their Indian Status Card and withdraw from state systems. When High-Profiled Activist's tells others to cut up their Startus Cards; Reject institutional participation; claim not to take government money, frames themselves as excluded from state funding, Yet enjoys Media visibility; Established contracts; Cultural capital; alternative income streams; and does not face the same material risk as: Youth on reserve; Low-income families; Individuals reliant on treaty-based benefits, Mobility Securement, it is hypocritical, reckless and harmful to the people especially the youth.
One must also be transparent about their own material relationship to those systems. Otherwise, we risk promoting a politics of sacrifice that only the most vulnerable will pay for.
Issac’s followers have stood by him with the Juno article being shared online. Some have said that 500K is not even that much money, considering how it is dispersed in his work.
Well that may be true 500K since 2022, is about 125K an average annual salary of an Indian Act Chief and this is just from one source from many of his Cultural Gigs.
To say that is not that much money is disrespectful for the many doing the same work who are not always funded like this high profiled cultural figure, celeb figure within the community. This is a lot of money for those on the frontline putting their lives on the line who are marginalized as they are not a cultural celeb.
If we take ourself out the Indian Act registry, we still have a Birth Certificate, Passport, Drivers Licence, SIN, Health Care that make you the Legal Person, a Corporate Entity, a Citizen under the Jurisdiction of the unlawful entity that is Canada. I am sure such individuals must have to use some form of ID to travel the world for their Career in Activism and Culture.
A well known social media influencer, powwow dancer, cultural curator recently raised concerns about Issac and Christi in regards to their influence over government as Cultural Representatives and their mass following which gives them legitimacy as such.
"I commented on a post yesterday that I was upset with Issac Murdoch and Christi Belcourt for supporting the Metis Nation of Ontario. I don’t know if you know this but in the fall there was a ceremony planned by Issac called The Painted Hand Ceremony where they were going to show in ceremony that elders and Anishnaabek were in alliance (treaty) with the MNO, the schedule showed one of the key players for the MNO Mitch Case, was going to present about how there have been Metis here in Ontario going back to 1812. And they were all going to commit to being in good relations with each other and with the land.
The first Painted Hand Ceremony happened in 2015 and was hosted by the Onaman Collective. Hosts Issac and Christi. This event is used today, as evidence that the MNO is in treaty relations with Anishnaabek. It is published in the recent Expert Panel report the MNO on page 42.
I guess my problem is with Issac, teaming up with MNO and to plan ceremony with them, which no doubt the MNO will use as evidence that
"Anishnaabe accept them and are in treaty agreements. Which they will use to get their 6 historic communities made into official Metis Settlements. A pathway to treaty and land agreements with Ontario on Nish territory that is already in treaty.
2. Christi, even tho you may have left the MNO in 2016, you helped shape them. The Painted Hand Ceremony you co-hosted in 2015 is used as evidence that the MNO is in a Peace and Friendship Treaty with Anishnaabek and Cree Allies. It’s in their expert report. Why do you remain silent when the MNO uses this event like this? In opposition to First Nations in Ontario?" - Deanne Nanookausi Hupfield
Kanahus comes from a long line of Indigenous activists. Her father was the well‑known
Secwepemc and international Indigenous rights leader Arthur Manuel, and her grandfather was Grand Chief George Manuel.
Kanahus Manuel, along with her activist networks such as the Tiny House Warriors, has been elevated as a high-profile Indigenous activist and cultural figure, celebrated online and across social media platforms. However, recent community letters and statements — such as the open letter signed by Miranda Dick granddaughter of Warrior, Wolverine from the GustufsonLakw Standoff in 1995and Saw-ses — raise serious concerns about alleged sexual abuse, exploitation, and abusive structures within some movements and encampments she has been involved with, including the Tiny House Warriors’ camps.
The letter details patterns of abuse that go beyond individual misconduct, highlighting structural issues typical of hierarchical, cult-like movement dynamics:
Centralized control over resources — money, transportation, gifts, and access to survival items are managed by a small leadership circle.
Exploitation of followers — youth, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and vulnerable community members are especially at risk of manipulation, coercion, and emotional or physical abuse.
Suppression of accountability — concerns raised by victims or witnesses are publicly dismissed, silenced, or demonized by the community’s broader supporter base.
Abuse of cultural authority — celebrity activists derive social legitimacy, status, and influence from their symbolic authority, which can be weaponized to control followers, deflect criticism, and obscure transparency.
Trauma perpetuation — patterns of lateral violence, victim-blaming, and secrecy mirror broader colonial dynamics, extending oppression internally within the community.
This situation illustrates a larger systemic pattern: when Indigenous movements produce high-profile activists, their celebrity and authority can both amplify political messages and shield problematic behaviors. The more a figure becomes a “star,” the more difficult it is for communities to hold them accountable, especially if their supporters online form a defensive, cult-like fan base that demonizes dissent or legitimate critique.
Kanues always has a GO FUND ME going, which contradicts, Warrior Principles of Self Sufficiency and not begging our People in Poverty for Money. An Anishinabek Ogitchida owner of a Cannabis Discpensary seen her in Belize on Vacation at a Resort where she ignored this Anishinabek a big financial supporter of hers, in which we seen the true colors behind the scenes.
If Kanahus travels the world, I am sure she has to submit to KKKanada with their Passport and I.d such as a birth certificate which affirms one self as a legal person, a corporate entity and affirming the jurisdiction of KKKanada and AmeriKKKa and MexiKKKo and beyond. Drivers licences also are a contract with the state. Soveriegnty Incorproated?
Kanhues helps show the youth that warrior work can be merely asking and begging for money to be Sovereign. Which is not Sovereignty or being a Warrior but asking the People to Go Fund your Life. We are all in this fight no?
IN SPIRITUALITY, POWWOW AND MEDICINE SOCIETIES
In Powwow, Drum Groups, Dancers and Emcee's are commodified where ego, elitism and competition exists within Powwow Culture and where celebrity figures are definitely created. Idol Worship doesn't stop there, this phenomenon is seen in our Spirituality, Healing Movement, Ceremonies and Medicine Societies. Our Teachings, Ceremony, Knowledge keepers also have become a commodity within our communities where those who carry such things are sought after, put on a pedestal and become a type of celebrity figure in our communities.
Nathan Chassing Horse, Quaanah Chassing Horse's Dad, was a celebrity in Hollywood's Dances With Wolves, sought after by our People. Became a Popular Powwow Dancer, Singer, Ceremony Man. He hit all the Cultural Celebrity Markers, and got a huge following.
On July 6, 2015, after attempting to hold a Sun Dance ceremony in the area, Chasing Horse was banned by officials from the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana as a "safety threat" because of charges of "human trafficking, sexual abuse, drug dealing, and intimidation of tribal members".
Chasing Horse was arrested on January 31, 2023, by officers of the North Las Vegas Police Department and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Officers conducted a SWAT team raid on the house that he shared with his five wives, located in North Las Vegas.
According to a 50-page search warrant, Chasing Horse is alleged to have led a cult known as The Circle. Police report that they seized firearms, and that Chasing Horse was instructing his followers to "shoot it out" with law enforcement. He told them that if they failed, they should take suicide pills.
The Las Vegas police, as stated in the search warrant, have found evidence of at least six claims of sexual abuse, with one victim reporting being assaulted at the age of 13. The allegations against Chasing Horse span multiple states, including Montana, South Dakota, and Nevada where he has lived for the past 10 years, and date to the early 2000s.
On January 30, 2026, a jury in Clark County, Nevada, convicted Chasing Horse on multiple charges related to the sexual assault of a minor. He was acquitted on other sexual assault charges. Chasing Horse had pleaded not guilty to all 21 charges. Prosecutors alleged that Chasing Horse used his status as a Lakota medicine man to sexually abuse Indigenous women and girls. Several of the convictions related to offenses involving a victim who was 14 years old at the time of the alleged abuse. Sentencing is scheduled for March 11, 2026. If convicted, he faces a minimum of 25 years.
Nathan Chassing Horse is the extreme example of what happens with IDOLIZING indiviudals in entertainment and our culture.
CONCLUSION
In the end, the danger of celebrity worship lies not in admiration itself, but in its political function. It trains audiences to mistake visibility for power, symbolism for change, and inclusion for justice. Indigenous refusal names this illusion directly: a system that remains structurally intact does not become emancipatory simply because it has learned to market hope.
