The point of the work is to raise that question, among others. Is it acceptable? Chairman Mao was a "pop star" in China. Is that different than Elvis or Marilyn Monroe in the US? One is promoted by a repressive government while the others are promoted by capitalist media companies, but is the result all that different? Aren't they all "celebrities"?

And does Warhol's treatment celebrate them, or mock them? Is it respectful or does it reduce the person into a cartoon, a caricature, a meme? Does the very act of mass-producing an image elevate the subject's status, regardless of the content?