Examining the coverage of Peter Dinklage in entertainment journalism, this article interrogates the possibilities and limitations of a celebrity with a nonnormative body to actually challenge Hollywood’s stereotyping of little people and the cultural tendency to use little people as a source of humor or voyeuristic pleasure. Although the rise of Dinklage to celebrity status created an opportunity for entertainment journalism to question Hollywood casting politics and draw attention to the stigma faced by little people, the discourses surrounding Dinklage have largely created a meritocratic narrative in which the struggles faced by little people in Hollywood are acknowledged but depoliticized. Such a narrative affirms the inherent fairness of the celebrity system, casting the structural and cultural barriers that create inequality as simple obstacles that the talented and hard working will overcome.
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