Would-be assassin-turned-folk singer John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to kill then-President Ronald Regan in 1981, was scheduled to perform at the Hotel Huxley in Naugatuck, Connecticut on March 30…
We would wear t-shirts with stylised image of his face, an image that would become part of pop culture and newer gens wouldn't even understand the full significance.
He wasn't some revolutionary, though... he'd just watched Taxi Driver about fifteen times and wanted to impress Jodie Foster (who, it must be noted, was twelve when shooting the film, and barely eighteen when Hinckley shot Reagan).
I very much doubt he'd have become an idol, given that.
Yes, I agree with it being relevant - but with time relevance changes or gets forgotten.
(Tho that other revolutionary was just some professional curfuffler, it's merely that icons sometimes become randomly monetised (due to lack of overwhelming ad campaigns/propaganda forcing a single imagine or meaning for their own agenda).)
Maybe kids would wear those shirts and ask fellow cool-shirt-wearers if they even have a favourite "Jodie Foster" song (thinking that dude was Jodie).
(My little scenario-for-the-sake-of-a-joke didn't include the dude becoming a beloved idol as such, just a common image.)