https://www.instagram.com/p/DbO7ihbsEo8/
Hey, Anon. Just so you know, I’ve been wrestling with your question for the past two days. And unfortunately, I have to admit that I simply don’t know.
The truth is, none of us really know celebrities. We all catch glimpses of them through interviews or whatever they choose to share on social media, but over time we usually form some sense of who they are. We get a feel for their personality, sometimes their values, their family and friends, or the kind of life they lead.
With Sam, that feels impossible.
He shares almost nothing about his private life, and ever since he turned himself into a walking storefront, he has become a caricature of a middle aged party boy.
Gone is the humble, slightly awkward Sam who used to blush when a woman looked at him. Gone is the nerd who built Lego sets and loved Scully and Back to the Future.
Instead, we have this persona, and I sincerely hope it is just that, a persona. One that comes wrapped in jewelry, tattoos, and whatever new accessory he’s selling that week. No matter how hard I’ve tried to find the PR logic behind it, I just can’t.
It feels like a strange mash up of several completely contradictory branding strategies.
On one hand, he’s the businessman behind a premium spirits brand, the owner of a distillery, someone who gives speeches to members of Parliament and represents Scotland both at home and abroad.
On the other, he’s playing the frat boy in tank tops and chunky jewelry, pouring alcohol down strangers’ mouths.
On one hand, he’s soft launching an instant family at every public event. On the other, he refuses to define that relationship, lets the fandom chase breadcrumbs, and behaves around that supposed new family as though they’re an obligation rather than people he wants to be with.
I can understand building a polished, distinguished image. That’s good for the brand.
I can understand leaning into a younger, college boy persona if the goal is to separate himself from Jamie Fraser and perhaps open doors to different audiences.
I can even understand introducing a family, whether for image purposes or as cover for something else.
What I can’t understand is trying to be all of those people at the same time.
How do you narrate smut one week and a children’s book for visually impaired kids the next? How do you sell a $180 bottle of whisky while deliberately cultivating an image that feels cheap and trashy? How do you present yourself as a family man while treating your supposed partner and her daughter like an inconvenience?
I actually found myself wondering this week whether I’ve been wrong all along. Maybe I’ve been holding on to the version of Sam I thought I knew and struggling to let him go.
It’s not an easy thing to admit that you may have completely misjudged someone you spent years believing was a gentleman. A bit of a mama’s boy. Nerdy, charming, funny. Only to wonder whether he’s actually none of those things, but instead a player, a terrible boyfriend, someone who makes questionable decisions and surrounds himself with questionable people.
And then, in the middle of all these videos showing me someone I genuinely dislike, another clip appears. One of him helping Luke Combs’ mother down the stairs, quietly making sure she was okay.
And I catch myself thinking all over again…
Maybe that’s the real Sam.
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