Over the past couple months or so, nepotism (specifically “nepo babies,” or people who have allegedly derived benefit from famous/successful relatives who came before them) has been a hot topic of discussion. Now, Noel Gallagher, whose daughter Anaïs is a photographer and model, has chimed in.
NME notes that in an interview with Absolute Radio this morning (January 17), Noel said of Anaïs, who has professionally photographed her father and other artists like Yungblud and Inhaler:
“My daughter, she follows me around with a camera and she films me and all that. She did a film about the making of the [upcoming High Flying Birds] album [Council Skies]. I guess you want to keep things close to home, but they have to be good at what they do. She’s good at what she does. She’s not just wandering around, pointing a camera going, ‘Muh there’s my dad’: she is great.
It’s not the worst thing in the world if you get your kids working for you. They’re cheap, do you know what I mean? My lads are too busy scratching their balls and scouring TikTok for nonsense to worry about, ‘Dad, can I be your bass player,’ or anything like that.”
Last November, Anaïs spoke about nepotism with Daily Mail, saying
“I would be tone deaf and irresponsible if I didn’t admit to how privileged my life has been and how much of a leg up my upbringing has given me. I’m really, really, extremely grateful for the situation my parents have been able to give me, and I’ll be grateful until the day I die. Whether it’s being able to attend university or have job opportunities, I’m incredibly grateful for everything they’ve given me. […]
There is justification around the hiring of nepotism babies. I think it’s not justified as an attack on somebody personally, and whether they themselves are a hard worker, because you don’t truly ever know anyone. I actually don’t think it’s kind to pass judgement on anyone you don’t know and to be mean about them. But I do think there needs to be a push to hire people who are incredibly deserving, and they may not come from a background when they have all the contacts. I think that is up to employers, I don’t think the pressure should be on the nepotism babies not to go up for the jobs, but it should be on the employers to do the right thing and the right research, and consider who is the right candidate for the job. […]
I don’t feel pressure from outside because nobody can truly know how hard you work or anything like that. I don’t feel that much pressure. My parents don’t put that much pressure on me to be super, super successful, they just put pressure on me to be a hard worker and have good morals and be grounded and kind. I definitely put a lot of pressure on myself not to take anything for granted and be respectful and work hard, but I’m not bothered about whether people think I’m deserving or undeserving. There’s always going to be people out there who have a negative opinion of you.”