Maybe back when it first started. It hasn't been the 'essence of Facebook' for a long time now.
They've evolving, as they need to if they want to stay in the lead.
Alternatively, you can change their subscription level on their profile page for the same effect. You might want to do that if you share status updates or set privacy for your personal information like phone number and address to "Friends except Acquaintances" and this friend isn't actually an acquaintance and should get that stuff.
Unfortunately, if you want to both "see everything" and "avoid celebrity news", there isn't a solution to that at the moment.