By Jeff Seldin – The new year is typically a time when people try to say goodbye to the past and look forward to a bright new future. But for many Americans, a poll shows, it would also be a fine time to say goodbye to some celebrities whose faces have become all too familiar.
The most commonly offered answer was sisters Kim and Khloe Kardashian, the reality TV stars whose lives are chronicled on an almost weekly basis by the celebrity magazines sold at supermarket checkout counters. Fully 70 percent of American adults hope to see less of them in the coming year.
Coming in at number two in the survey was actress Lindsay Lohan, the former teen star whose frequent brushes with the law have lost their novelty. Sixty-eight percent of Americans say they would be happy to see less of her in 2013.
Alana Shannon, the six-year-old reality show starlet and beauty pageant contestant known as ‘Honey Boo Boo,’ has not been on the scene for as long as the others, but her act already is getting old. Two-thirds of those surveyed say they have had enough of her and her mother, June Shannon.
Others making the list include teen singing sensation Justin Bieber, R&B singer Chris Brown and Twilight movie actress Kristen Stewart, who made headlines for cheating on her boyfriend.
Taking aim at over-exposed celebrities was the idea of Zebra Pen Corporation, which makes pens. Chris Farley, the company’s marketing director, spoke to VOA via Skype.
“We thought it would be a fun twist, which celebrities you would like to ‘write off,’ a play on words with writing. And then which celebrities were stealing all the ink,” said Farley.
Not all of the targeted celebrities live in Hollywood. A few have connections in Washington, the nation’s capital, including war hero and former CIA director David Petraeus.
Petraeus is still highly regarded for reducing the violence in Iraq during his tenure as U.S. commander there. But now that details of his extramarital affair with his biographer have come to light, though, 20 percent of Americans say they have had enough.
And there also is real estate tycoon Donald Trump, who repeatedly has questioned whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States, a requirement for a president. More than half of those with college degrees told the surveyors they will like 2013 a lot better if they hear a lot less from Trump.