When Fandom Crosses The Line

Recently I read some pretty disturbing comments about the significant other of one of my favorite actors. The comments were rude, nasty, spiteful, and baseless in reality. Most shocking to me was that the women posting these comments claimed to be huge fans of the actor. Wait, what?! Ch'yeah, let's show our love and admiration by bashing the mother of someone's child.

This wasn't the first time I've been disgusted or appalled by postings I've seen on fan forums and message boards. I've seen people viciously attacked for simply voicing an opinion. Sites have been hacked and the owners stalked and/or threatened. Some fans have the gall to speak as if they were inside the celebrities head and knew what they were thinking or feeling simply by the pose or expression in a photo. Most disturbing is the way I've seen fans openly trash the families of celebrities on these open forums.

I realize that being in the public eye leaves a person open to scrutiny. But what happened to the line between a celebrity's personal life and professional life? Yes, celebs go out there and promote their movies for all the world to see. We see them attending award shows, charity events, parties, and other entertainment related functions. That is when they smile and sign autographs and pose for the public. That is the public part of their lives that we all have a right too.

Fan worship has been around for centuries. Most of the time it is harmless. It only becomes dangerous when fans blur (or in some cases, erase) the line between the public and private persona. Yes Virginia, celebrities are people too! I believe people forget that fact when they are sitting behind the anonymity of a computer screen. Remember the old saying, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"? It should be posted on every computer in the world. There's another one: Just because you can say something, doesn't mean you should.

When I see this kind of behavior I want to tell the person (and sometimes do) to remember there is a human being behind that famous face. Just imagine if the positions were reversed? Would you want people putting you down, dissing your family and friends, nit-picking every little thing you say and do? I'm going to go out on a limb and say, "No". We all have a little fangirl or fanboy inside us and it is perfectly natural to seek out like minded people for conversation. Just remember that fandom, and the anonymity of the internet, isnot an excuse to attack, abuse or demean another human being. Now, go play nice!