Kristen Bell Shares Photo Of Star-Studded Dinner Party — And Not Everyone's Impressed
Guess who’s not coming to dinner.
On Friday, Kristen Bell posted an Instagram slideshow of her recent vacation to Idaho with her husband Dax Shepard and their daughters Delta, 8, and Lincoln, 9.
The slideshow consists mostly of sweet family snaps of the couple and their kids enjoying the Gem State’s picturesque landscapes — but one photo in the bunch really caught people’s attention.
The third photo in the slideshow features a long outdoor table packed with some pretty famous faces sitting down for a dinner party — most notably Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, John Mulaney, Adam Scott and Jason Bateman.
The party seems to have taken place at South Fork Lodge in Sweet Valley, Idaho, which Jimmy Kimmel (also pictured, along with his wife, Molly) reportedly bought in 2020, according to the Idaho State Journal.
Other celebs who were spotted in the photo include Jimmy Fallon, Jake Tapper, Olivia Munn (who had a baby with Mulaney in 2021), Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid (who is engaged to Cox), former NASA engineer and YouTube star Mark Rober, and “UnREAL” and “Roswell” star Shiri Appleby.
Fans had a few very funny things to say about the bonkers guest list.
“did i give you permission to post?” pic.twitter.com/sN9HJgALP4
— Cole Delbyck (@coledelbyck) July 7, 2023
Nobody touched the bread
— Annemarie Schiavi Pedersen (@SchiaviPedersen) July 7, 2023
Shocked she’s friends with @drilpic.twitter.com/D6vifvk7yj
— Frank Lesser (@sadmonsters) July 7, 2023
Weirdest crossover ever.
— Alessandro Mortellaro (@mortymortymorts) July 8, 2023
But even more social media users pointed out one concern they had with the photo — there was a serious lack of people of color at the party.
All the white people, you mean? I do not understand what I am supposed to be reacting to here.
There are no Black or Brown people. That’s my takeaway.— Pfunk, the shenanigator (@Gluonsrule) July 8, 2023
Photo needs a lil affirmative action 👀
— Brooklyn (@BrooklynBoyB) July 8, 2023
They don’t have a single Black friend.
— Akilah Hughes (@AkilahObviously) July 8, 2023
South Fork Lodge? This photo has a lot of “salt” but no pepper or chili. No further comments.
— 🇺🇸 Army Veteran in 🇺🇦 (@73RDARM) July 8, 2023
Where are all the purple people Kristen Bell says the world needs more of? 😏 pic.twitter.com/mbuYtt1idI
— Ola Ojewumi (@Olas_Truth) July 8, 2023
As a Black person even if she extended an invite to one I would pass ain’t no way I’m going to be the only thing of color in a sea of WP
— Kathia Woods (@kathia_woods) July 8, 2023
It’s the cast from Friends…what did expect?
— JANEE RAE💋 (@Still_Bourgeois) July 8, 2023
Just as Bell was called out after posting a photo of her overwhelmingly white dinner party, media outlets like British Vogue and this outlet, HuffPost, have been criticized for sharing photos revealing mostly white staffs. In 2017, the Los Angeles Timesand the female actors who graced its cover were also criticized on social media because all of the women were white.
This is not just an issue in Hollywood and other institutions with public influence. In 2014, a study found that three-quarters of white people don’t have any non-white friends.
Although interracial friendships occur more often in early school years, the issue is that children of color tend to start feeling unsupported by their white friends as they get older, according to Beverly Daniel Tatum, a psychologist and the author of “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations About Race.”
“Then, as those friends of color approach adolescence, they start to become aware of experiences with racism, from name-calling and racial profiling in stores or by police, to social exclusion ― not being invited to teenage birthday parties, for instance,” she told HuffPost in 2020.
Unfortunately, in adulthood, when it’s much more difficult to make new friends in general, people tend to be geographically segregated and stay socially segregated as well, according to a report by The Washington Post.
Many adult interracial friendships are strained when the white friend lacks racial awareness or refuses to learn more about racial issues on their own and expects their friend of color to “educate them.”
“It’s possible to learn some of that in the context of a cross-racial friendship, but it’s easier to become friends with a person of color if some of that work has already been done,” Tatum told HuffPost. “If one friend is always in the role of teacher and the other is always in the role of learner, their friendship lacks reciprocity.”
There are also benefits for white people who decide to step outside of their comfort zones and make more interracial friendships, according to Deborah L. Plummer, a psychologist and the author of “Some of My Friends Are... : The Daunting Challenges and Untapped Benefits of Cross-Racial Friendships.”
“When a white person travels through life with a friend of a different race, they get to understand and witness how the dynamics of privilege plays out,” Plummer told HuffPost in 2020.
“It allows them to really find a way to claim their white identity apart from that of a historical oppressor,” she continued. “They get to practice being anti-racists. They gain a positive white identity that is aligned with being a fully authentic human being.”
