‘Brooklyn Beckham is not a chef’: so-called nepotism children face haters on social networks

Brooklyn Beckham is the latest celebrity to appear on the account of the well-known tik tok Daniel Mac. It hasn’t turned out well. Mac is a sensation on the preferred social network of Generation Z. His account boasts more than 12.9 million followers, thanks to a format that is as simple as it is direct: Mac approaches complete strangers behind the wheel of luxury cars. He asks them a simple question: “Hey! What’s your job?” The videos are overlaid with the vehicle’s make, model and price. respondents reveal their profession: “I’m a music producer,” replies a man who claims to have worked for Travis Scott, Drake and Beyoncé and drives a $350,000 Lamborghini Urus. “I’m a hairdresser,” replies a charismatic middle-aged man driving a $350,000 Rolls Royce Cullinam. The stylist, Juan Juan, counts among his clients stars such as John Travolta, Brad Pitt and Robert de Niro. Daniel Mac comes across a good share of celebrities. Some of the funniest and most viral responses are the simplest: “I’m Jason Derulo.” “”I’m Helen Mirren.”

A few days ago, Daniel Mac’s account exploded when he approached a red McLaren P1, one of only 375 in the world, whose cost exceeds 1,200,000 dollars. “Hey man, what do you do for a living?” asks Mac in the video. At the wheel is Brooklyn Beckham, son of soccer player David Beckham and designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, who replies, “I’m a chef.” Mac, who later wrote in the comments that he hadn’t initially recognized Brooklyn Beckham, asks, startled, “Really? Are you like the best chef in the world? Beckham replies: “Trying to be.” “Any advice to people trying to get into cooking?” And the young Beckham, 23, replies: “Just follow your passion, whatever makes you happy.”

The video has quickly elicited all kinds of criticism on social media. It has brought back the old debate about so-called “nepotism babies,” children of celebrities who monopolize the juiciest projects in film, television, music, fashion and advertising and whose ventures receive disproportionate media attention due to the interest generated by their last name. Examples include Dakota Johnson, daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson; Lourdes Leon, the daughter of Madonna; Maude Apatow, daughter of director and producer Judd Apatow and actress Leslie Mann; Francesca Scorsese, who needs no clarification; and the children of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, to name a few.

Many such figures are completely oblivious of their own privilege. Now adults with their own projects and ambitions, they often mention words like “effort,” “talent” or “merit” in interviews. Actor Ben Stiller, son of comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, recently responded on Twitter to comments about other successful children of stars: “Just speaking from experience, and I don’t know any of them, I would bet they all have faced challenges. Different than those with no access to the industry. Show biz as we all know is pretty rough, and ultimately is a meritocracy.” The actress and businesswoman Gwyneth Paltrow, daughter of producer and director Bruce Paltrow and Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress Blythe Danner, discussed the topic on Hailey Bieber’s YouTube channel (the latter, incidentally, is the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin and niece of Alec Baldwin). “As someone’s child, you have access that other people don’t, so the playing field isn’t level that way. However, I really do feel that once your foot is in the door, which you unfairly got in, then you have to work almost twice as hard and be twice as good.”

Brooklyn Beckham has not studied cooking, but the media has covered his intention to open a pub in Los Angeles. Before that, his career pursuits were somewhat erratic. He began, as expected, following in his father’s footsteps, with a contract to play in the Under-16 League of the Arsenal football team, but the team let him go at the age of 16. He then enrolled in the prestigious Parsons design school in New York, and he dropped out shortly thereafter. In between, he worked as a model, brand ambassador and later a photographer, with a photography book that also aroused ridicule on social networks for the low quality of his work. And then came gastronomy.

In an interview with Variety earlier this year, Brooklyn Beckham acknowledged that he had had more false starts in his career than most. He insisted that his previous projects were “hobbies” and that he had now discovered his true passion, cooking. Thus came Cookin’ with Brooklyn, a cooking show broadcast through his Facebook profile and on Instagram, in which Beckham visited renowned restaurants and then tried to emulate their dishes. The New York Post later revealed that the program cost $100,000 per episode and had a team of 62 professionals that included a culinary producer to “teach Brooklyn Beckham to prepare a sandwich.”

Brooklyn Beckham, who lacks talent but boasts amazing self-confidence, may be one of the least popular nepotism babies on social media. In a recent live broadcast on Instagram, Beckham himself responded to the criticism aroused by the video of tiktoker Daniel Mac and some of his on-screen culinary disasters: “I’m not a chef, I’m a cook,” he stated. “I love to cook and start from the beginning and you know, learn, I’m going to learn every day.” But nobody can afford a McLaren P1 from their first kitchen job.