Toxic fan behavior has been a staple of American celebrity culture. That's what brought the famous British band The Beatles over to the States. They knew their career would take off, and it did, and even had women fainting in their concerts.
Since then, celebrities have been idolized to a point where fans feel connected to celebrities on a deeply emotional level. In reality, that star has no idea who that fan even is, let alone feelings any emotional connection.
This is what we call "Stan Behavior," which stems from an Eminem song called Stan. Ultimately, the term has evolved even further since the internet makes us connected to what our favorite celebrities are up to at almost all times.
Fans on the internet can become vicious when doting after their popular celebrity crushes. If someone comes after their pop culture icon on Twitter, they become a mob trying to defend them. As if celebrities can do no wrong (we know that's not true, they're human just like us).
Redditors shared some of the most toxic fan bases out there today.
Redditor asked:
"What's the most toxic fan base you've ever seen?"
Here's some of those toxic fans, and sometimes equally as toxic celebrities.
Defending abusers.
"Chris Brown, seconds after he almost beat Rihanna to death, they were bending over backward to rationalize the assault, mercilessly attacking anyone who spoke up about it, and haven't stopped for over a decade. And they won, he's still famous, successful, and a huge participant in popular culture."
"If it makes you feel better, he is banned from entering Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, due to his criminal record."
"The most wtf moment was I was talking about music to a girl from work and she said she loved Chris brown. I explained why I didn't like him and the whole beating up Rihanna, her response to it was, 'Yeah, but he's hot.'"
"That kinda stopped me for a second."
"Similar conversation I had with girls I worked with. One was playing music and was asking who liked Chris Brown and I was the only one who said I didn't. They were all shocked when I said uh because he's a woman abuser so he's a terrible person. And they all started saying ohhhh well maybe that's just how the relationship was. These girls were all 19 and 20. I was stunned."
"This just made me sad. Imagine believing that kind of relationship is 'normal' enough."
Killer fans.
"All those crazy fans who support serial killers just because they think they're hot. Ted Bundy fanatics, etc."
"When the Boston Marathon bombing happened some women were fawning over the Tsarnaev kid. Rolling Stone published a mugshot that looked more like a boy band pic with ruffled hair and all that. Kinda tasteless after he helped kill 4 people and blasted ball bearings through dozens more."
"There are plenty of hot people who aren't crazy, why do people idolize the crazy ones."
"Crazy a** BTS stans threatened to kill me when I said their Korean songs are better than their English ones."
"Stan culture in general, tbh, is toxic af. It just involves supporting strangers blindly, no matter what they do. Just switching off all critical thinking. I feel like this obsessive fan behaviour is exactly what Eminem was condemning in that song, but now it's a good thing?"
"But yeah, K-pop stans are a different breed. I like K-pop but I never say I'm a fan because I look at other people who say they're fans and I go... Nah I don't like anything that much lol."
"There's no way anyone who calls themselves a Stan has heard the song it originally came from lol."
The fans that love to hate.
"No one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans."
"Star Wars fans and Star Wars fans are natural enemies."
"I work in the TV industry. I've been involved in all sorts of things from Doctor Who to Marvel and DC movies. Star Wars is the only production I can mention where I physically get harassed for."
"Dude, I was a background extra on it for 6 months. Do you REALLY think I have any say in the script?"
"I was a background extra on it for 6 months."
"Oh come on Ahmed Best, now you're selling yourself short!"
The reputation follows the fans that aren't toxic.
"I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Rick and Morty yet."
"I believe it USED to be a toxic fandom, but when the lightning in a bottle died out it seems that only the people who are super interested in the show are still watching it. It's still a great show nonetheless."
"I am a big fan of the show, but the fans have such a toxic reputation that I don't wear any merch because of the negative associations."
If you want to read more about the toxic Rick and Morty fan base, here's a Medium article that breaks it down.
"I did enjoy the pickle Rick episode where Dr. Wong (voiced by Susan Surandon), calls out Rick and to an extent, the diehard fans, that being intelligent (or perceived intelligence) is not a justification to be a sh*tty person."
"Here's the scene if you want to see it."
- Apod1991
"It's funny too because that episode is probably what launched the fandom to its highest heights of toxicity."
The reboot that caused a violent fan base.
"The Voltron Fandom. The show itself took a nosedive after a couple good seasons, but the fanbase got wild. Massive shipping wars that had people run off the internet and calling each other pedophiles; blackmailing the studio; harassing VAs; someone reportedly sent cupcakes with glass in them or something."
- yrk-h8r
"I'd second this. The Voltron fandom also built up a quagmire that spread to other fandoms even long after the original show has lost any relevance. It's genuinely not uncommon to find toxic people in newer fandoms these days and find that they were Voltron fans at one point. Or that they proudly had a hand in also shaping the media landscape for that product to be as awful as it was."
"While there have been many shows with fandoms that allowed toxic mindsets to fester I genuinely feel like the effects of that particular fandom had a knock on effect for all that followed it."
Just taking this video game too an extreme.
"As much as I love Five Nights at Freddy's, I came across a good fair share of fans who would fight over which gender the spirits of the animatronics were, some who firmly believed in one of MatPat's theories, and, hell, even some people who literally went yandere over some of the characters, saying that characters like Bonnie or Freddy belonged to them and only to them."
"Like, it was like some of these people had a literal creepy infatuation with fictional, possessed by child spirits, robots, and that's only some of the crazy stuff I've seen on Wattpad."
"When the first game came out it was simple fun partaking in the fad of a unique new horror game, it's insane the kind of rabid, strange fan base the series has garnered. Not anywhere near what I would have expected."
In short:
"Find. Better. Idols."
- DirePug
There's no reason to become obsessed with a person, character, or game to a point of inciting true violence. No human is above another and that includes celebrities.
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