There are different ways of employing 'that word'. I don't know the person who uttered it in this instance, but I strongly suspect he was most guilty of thinking he was 'cool enough' to use it. It was, after all, according to this article, directed at "a friend." More broadly, the idea that 'celebrities' are people we supposedly look to for moral leadership is, I hope and pray, nothing more to this author than a rhetorical device; in a socially healthy society 'celebrity' would be nothing more than something that was tolerated.