Toxic Fan Syndrome

**Originally posted from my Tumblr**

There’s a certain mentality that I’ve noticed among fans in regards to their attitude towards actors/actresses.

Actor’s don’t have a voice. No one cares about their opinions. They just need to shut up and go away.

Until an incident like the George Floyd murder happens. Then that mentality changes to-

Actors need to speak out! They shouldn’t be silent!! They need to show their support and use their public image!!!

This is true among both conservatives and liberal platforms. Conservatives are even worse. They despise any celebrity that disagrees with them, but praise anyone who aligns with them.

On Tumblr Rami Malek and Joe Mazzello (and others) are being raked over the coals because of their silence regarding the George Floyd murder. Fans are taking the attitude that they need to hold actors/actresses accountable in their personal lives.

So what does this all narrow down to?

Have fans become toxic toward celebrities because of their unrealistic standards of who they want actors/actresses to be?

Yes. Fans have become toxic in their behavior to actors/actresses. They have created unrealistic ideas about celebrities

Sebastian Stan put it perfectly, 

"…they [actors] didn’t set out to be gods; we [fans] made them gods.”

And that is the problem right their. Fans have taken this idea that they can create in their minds unrealistic ideas of their favorite actor/actress. Fans have made them gods. Worshiped them and hold them be above everyone else.

Until the god has proven to be human, falls from grace and actually bleeds. Then the fantasy is shattered. They’re not perfect. They’re human. What I created wasn’t real.

Whose fault is it when a fan is brokenhearted and disappointed? Not the actor/actress. It’s the fans fault when they made gods among men.

Actors and actresses are not gods to be worshiped and set apart. They should not be expected to be your personal superhero. The world needs to see actors and actresses as ordinary humans that fall and get hurt and make mistake. The prestige, the glamour and the worship must be taken away.

Do fans have the right to dictate to actors/actresses what they can and cannot say?

No, they don’t. Actors and actresses do not have to speak the same narrative as their fans. Going back to treating them as humans. They are not gods made in your own image or puppets to be used.

An actor/actress is not obligated to agree with or appease their fans. An actor/actress is free to speak or stay silent. They are free to have their own minds and opinions. The fans must learn to respect those opinions, thoughts and ideas and once again disregard the idea that actors/actresses are gods made in an unrealistic fantasy image of the fans.

You cannot disregard an actors/actresses voice one minute and then demand they speak out the next. An actor and actresses have the same rights to the First Amendment as anyone else.

Do actors have the right to dictate what their fans or other people outside the acting community should say or do? No. Actors and actresses have made some idiotic, elitist and stupid statements. As public figures they need to be careful with what they say and how they say it.

However, there is a push and pull with the media and public. Actors are told by one side to speak out and when they do, they are told to shut up on the other side. They’re oftentimes caught between a rock and a hard place and can find no common ground, because their fan bases are diverse and different.

You may not like what an actor/actress has to say, but it is their right to say it. They are not your toys to be used for your entertainment and then tossed aside for another time.

Fans do not have the right to cancel an actor/actress just because they don’t share the same opinion and ideas. Fans demand that actors/actresses respect them and their ideas. However that respect goes both ways.

What is a actors/actresses initial duties toward their fans?

To entertain. That is it. An actor/actresses duty to their fans is to entertain and tell a story. Their duty to their fans ends when the fan walks out of the movie theater. An actor/actresses duty is not to be a hero or a mouthpiece. They do not owe fans anything outside the support of their career by watching them in their craft.

Toxic Fan Syndrome is real. Rabid fans have destroyed relationships, ended career opportunities, shut down social media accounts and incited fear and loneliness.

An actors/actresses job is simply to entertain. Afterwards their lives are their own to do as they please.

• Fans should never hound an actors/actresses social media account and demand that they speak their narrative or share their opinions.

• They should never believe that they must educate or criticize an actor/actress who disagrees with them or hold an entitled attitude that they are responsible for holding actors and actresses accountable for what they do or say.

• Fans should never assume that an actor/actress is privileged solely based on their skin color.

1. There are actors/actresses regardless of their skin color or ethnicity that have come from abject poverty and struggled to get to where they are or have faced abuse within their career.
2. Usually to keep up with the public appearance, they choose not to talk about the negative or private issues in their lives.
3. Assuming privilege just because they are white or because they don’t associate or follow POC makes you an A class racist.

If actors like Rami Malek and Joe Mazzello choose to stay silent on social media regarding the George Floyd murder and BLM then it is their right to do so.

A fan’s duty to an actor/actress is to support their careers. Not to make them gods. Not to have them as their political advocates. Fans need to stop creating actors and actresses into their own heroes. If you want a hero why don’t you try being your own hero and stop expecting other people to do the job.