Read on Twitter
I feel like I should make a post detailing the Sebastian drama because I see a whole lot of bad takes and misinfo and blatant lies going around. Iāve been on the net for nearly a decade by now this is genuinely one of the scariest and most out of control situations Iāve seen.
A quick summary for anyone who hasnāt been following: Last week, Seb was pictured with a women. Many assumed this was his girlfriend but this has not been confirmed. Fans began combing through her life and social media to find something incriminating.
I feel like this is important, that the hatred came first, and the reason came after.Ā They found a photo of the girl, from 2 years ago. I will include it for transparency (she is on the left): she is at anĀ āAsian nightā party/club night, wearing a kimono.
Itās insensitive to use culture as a costume, to lump all the diverse and distinct Asian cultures together into one party theme, decorated with pound shop Chinese lanterns. Itās cultural appropriation. A number of Asian people were understandably upset by this photo + her actions
But let me be very clear: These are not his actions. He was not at the party, he did not wear the kimono, he did not post or like the photo, he did not endorse, condone or defend the actions in any way.
Weāve never seen them together before, so presumably this is 2 years before they met. He doesnāt follow her or the friend that posted it 2 years ago on Instagram. Thereās no reasonable expectation that he ever wouldāve seen this photo. He almost certainly did not know it existed.
He cannot apologise or seek redemption for someone else actions. He cannot set a precedent where he is responsible for everything everyone who comes within 20ft of him did, years before they even met.
It is completely insane to expect him to do a full background check on everyone he makes out with, or to expect him and all his acquaintances to be ideologically pure, not be ignorant about anything and never make a mistake.
Some people seemed to realize that he cannot be held responsible for other peopleās actions, so they invented something to pin blame on him: he defended her! I searched high and low for his statement defending her. He did not make one.
Instead, he allegedly blocked a handful of people who spammed his comments with demands for apologies. At least one of these blocks has been outed as photoshop. If the others are real, we donāt know if it was him or his PR team.
We donāt know if their innocent public alerting him to an issue was accompanied by death threats in his dms. Regardless, heās within his rights to protect his mental health by blocking people who harass him about things thatās none of his business. Blocking is not defending her.
I often hear: cancel culture is not real, itās simply facing the consequences of your actions. So lets do an experiment where we outline the actions and consequences. If you were involved in the vile hashtags and threats made against him, ask yourself:
Are these reasonable, proportional and deserved? Do I have the authority to distribute these consequences? Am I making the world a better place - or a worse one? Is my moral high ground getting a little shaky?
Action:Ā
Kissed a girl who wore a kimono 2 years before they met. Allegedly (!!) blocked a few people who harassed him about it despite it being nothing to do with him.
Kissed a girl who wore a kimono 2 years before they met. Allegedly (!!) blocked a few people who harassed him about it despite it being nothing to do with him.
Consequences:
1. Doxxed, pictures of his apartment and his address leaked online. He will almost certainly have to move from his HOME.
1. Doxxed, pictures of his apartment and his address leaked online. He will almost certainly have to move from his HOME.
2. Intense death threats and suicide baiting, including #/RIPSebastianStan trending, which his family may have seen and actually thought he had died, photoshopped articles and memorial pictures that say he died
3. Actual danger to his physical safety through the release of his home address
4. Emails sent to his newly signed agency and employers to get him FIRED
4. Emails sent to his newly signed agency and employers to get him FIRED
5. Severe damage to his reputation including news articles with his name andĀ āracist postā in the title, that do not make it clear it was not his post!!
6. Most likely a severe hit to his mental health, which he has said before he struggles with, particularly from all the KILL YOUR SELF CLOWN messages
7. If he was with the girl - well, I doubt he is now, so the possible destruction of his relationship, instead of her getting a chance to learn, educate herself, grow and be better.
Iām genuinely concerned for his mental health - situations like this before have resulted in suicide (Caroline Flack springs to mind). His physical safety is also in danger. For the actions of someone else, years before they met. Please, stop this.
Please see that you are making the world so, so much worse, and you could actually kill someone through this. Please exit the twitter echo chamber and think maturely and critically about whether your response is proportional, reasonable and necessary.
Please see that he is a stranger to you, who is paid to do a job, and we have no more right to demand things from him or make him face consequences than we do our dentists or the cashier at the local shop. Please log off and go outside for a while.
Thank you and goodnight.
Addition:
Iām here for fictional people in fictional universes with fictional lives. I like fictional, because it rarely lets me down and when it does, I ignore it or write my own version. FICTION IS AMAZING.
Iām here for fictional people in fictional universes with fictional lives. I like fictional, because it rarely lets me down and when it does, I ignore it or write my own version. FICTION IS AMAZING.
But this isnāt fiction. This isnāt a game, TV show or an AU fanfic gone wild. These are not harmless heart-eye gifs or gushy letters sent to your fav.
These are behaviors negatively affecting someoneās life, someoneās mental health & well being, which people are gleefully tearing to shreds.
This is sheer lunacy. This is disgusting. This is bullshit.
This is sheer lunacy. This is disgusting. This is bullshit.
In this specific situation, there isnāt 1 single reason he should respond. I know that bothers some people, but thats PR 101. If he responds to every message, he sets a precedent that encourages people to keep trying to get his attention because they believe he might do it again.
Thatās a business decision. And as much as you may want to believe he owes you something, he does not. Full stop. No PR pro worth their salt would ever let him respond or put out a statement about something like this. Ever. If they did, they should be fired.
Truth is, I joined this fandom because I LIKE Sebastian Stan. Iām on stan twitter purely for my love of Bucky Barnes, and am grateful to Sebastian for bringing him to life. Iāve loved his work for more than 10 years.
And selfishly, thatās another reason this infuriates me.
And selfishly, thatās another reason this infuriates me.
Because now, heāll step away from fandom. Heāll stop sharing snippets on social channels. Heāll stop attending cons. Heāll stop popping over to say hello to fans at red carpet events or doing random interviews on IG or sharing Bucky headcanons.
Because what incentive is there to sharing himself with people if this is the result?
I certainly hope all these āfansā are pleased with themselves. Based on this feral behavior, I can only assume this is the outcome they wanted. Congrats to them for destroying this for everyone else. You got your wish.
