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Celebrity culture has long been rocked by bad behaviour. But in the social media age, avid fans have bigger platforms than ever to defend their problematic favourites.
When it comes to ‘problematic’, there tends to be two camps. The first are those celebrities who have faced allegations of abuse, assault, or criminal wrongdoing (with some even facing charges, although this is rare).
In recent years celebrities such as Lizzo, Johnny Depp and Louis C.K. have faced legal action due to unsavoury accusations, although they all have since returned to the public eye or have plans to.
Meanwhile, public figures such as P Diddy, R Kelly and Harvey Weinstein have been jailed for the severity of their crimes including sex trafficking, and sexual abuse.
However, being charged with a crime is not enough to exclude you from a thriving career as proven by President Donald Trump’s re-election (by a 75 million vote landslide) despite being found liable for sexual abuse, and Chris Brown’s continued music career after his felony assault conviction.
On the other end of the spectrum are stars who have been called out for discrimination and insensitive conduct – whether they have been accused of targeting minorities or displayed shocking social behaviour – such as Logan Paul, Dave Chappelle and JK Rowling.
The lines around who should be held accountable, and how, remains blurry depending on the severity of the alleged crime – and the willingness of the public to forgive.
But even when celebrities are cast in their worst light, there are still those who staunchly defend their idols no matter the cost.
This was perhaps best highlighted in 2022 when Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard accused the actor of abuse and the pair went head-to-head in a high-profile trial.
Depp had already lost a UK libel case against the Sun for calling him a wife-beater after Heard provided evidence to back up the claim.
But in the US, where he sued his ex-wife for defamation, Depp won the case and $15million (£12m) in compensatory and punitive damage.
During this period, particularly on TikTok, devoted Depp fans launched a coordinated campaign to blame, harass and ridicule Heard, described by the New York Times as a ‘hate machine’.
Dr Ruth A Heller, Associate Professor in Media and Communication at Sheffield Hallam University, told Metro that although the ‘sense of being a fan’ hasn’t changed much over the years, the reach has thanks to the internet.
She added: ‘People can often feel emboldened to attack/defend someone or something when there are others doing the same – and the internet of course makes it much easier to do that.
‘That doesn’t justify coordinated attacks, threats etc, but I don’t think that’s a fandom thing per se; it happens in response to lots of situations.’
According to Heller, it’s in the ‘nature of humans’ to ‘feel close to someone or something that has had a huge emotional impact on our lives’ which can then lead to people ‘defending [celebrities] from attack and protecting them.’
We see it reflected across fields whether it’s the public voting for ‘politicians who have lied’ or purchasing from companies with ‘appalling human rights records’.
When a dearly beloved celebrity is accused of wrongdoing, the emotional conflict for fans can be ‘deeply upsetting’, senior therapist Sally Baker agreed.
In the past few months, we have seen a huge shift in sentiment towards writer Neil Gaiman after he was accused of sexual assault, a claim he strongly denies.
Large parts of his online fanbase have been vocal on social media about their disappointment and decision to no longer support his work, although the jarring moral conflict is clear, as shown by his Reddit page followed by 24,000 people.
Reddit user @personal_reward_60 tried to make sense of the shock in a sympathetic post, reading: ‘Your relationship with the guy was parasocial first and foremost so there’s no way you could have known what he was hiding behind the scenes.
‘Reserve the anger and shame for the abusers who’ve done harm. The best thing we can do at the present is show kindness and empathy towards the victims.’
It’s a dilemma Sally understands all too well.
‘Those accused of actual crimes present a more clear-cut challenge. Fans may initially feel a sense of denial, struggling to reconcile the person they admired with the alleged criminal behaviour.
‘The cognitive dissonance can be difficult to manage, and fans may go through a grieving process as they come to terms with the potential downfall of their idol.’
She continued: ‘However, fans of celebrities accused of social missteps or controversial opinions may respond differently.
‘In these cases, fans may feel a stronger urge to defend their idol, viewing the backlash as an unfair attack on their personal values or beliefs.’
A study by the University of Cambridge that analysed the posts from 36,464 YouTube followers of Logan Paul after he faced backlash for filming a dead body in Japan’s Aokigahara forest found that people ‘resist updating their beliefs’.
‘Imagine a celebrity or a politician you greatly admire does something you consider deeply immoral and repugnant. Would you stand by them?’ lead author Simon Karg wrote in the paper.
‘We can see that people often keep holding on to a positive character evaluation even when the admired person commits a severe transgression.
‘The more important the person has been to us, the less likely we are willing to change our favourable opinion.’
The study also noted specific slang was created in support of the content creator, in this case the phrase ‘logang4life’ which is a phenomenon we have seen with other celebrities whether it is #IStandWithJKRowling or the multiple anti-Amber Heard hashtags on X.
In 2022, Forbes found that there were 14,000 posts using the hashtags #AmberHeardIsAnAbuser, #AmberHeardLsAnAbuser, #AmberHeardIsALiar and #AmberHeardLsALiar and 627 accounts ‘dedicated exclusively to tweeting about Heard’.
And the #justiceforjohnnydepp saw 19 billion views on TikTok, per the BBC.
As explained by Sally, the powerful combination of ‘an emotional attatchment and sense of identity’ can lead more devoted fans to see a celebrity’s downfall as a ‘personal attack’.
‘The coordinated social media campaigns, such as the one targeting Amber Heard, can be fuelled by the echo chamber effect of online communities, where dissenting voices are often drowned out or dismissed,’ she added.
This also makes sense in the case of Rowling, for whom many fans believe her divisive, and vocal, stance on trans women is justified.
Her past comments have compelled stars such as Daniel Radcliffe to write an open letter in support of LGBTQ+ charity The Trevor Project and be denounced by trans charities such as Mermaids – although she denies she is transphobic.
As such, echo chambers can lead down a dangerous road.
‘If fans are unable to see any fault in their favourite celebrities, it can create a dangerous dynamic where celebrities are shielded from accountability, no matter the severity of their actions.’
Elsewhere, Mental Health Expert Noel McDermott, pointed out that structural inequalities play into cases like Heard’s.
‘Attacks on high profile women are often motivated by society’s inbuilt patriarchal violence, as attacks on people of colour are motivated by societies racism etc. There are structural social ineqaulities at play,’ Noel explained.
‘There are also group process at place in special media spaces such as the “bystander effect” where people watch abuse without stepping in to avoid being the one abused next.’
As social media grows ever bigger, and remains a vital force in celebrity culture, what can be done to curb toxic paraoscial behaviour.
‘Celebrities themselves can play a role by setting healthy boundaries with their fanbase, being transparent about their personal lives and values, and actively discouraging any toxic or obsessive behaviour,’ Sally posed.
She continued: ‘Fans should be encouraged to maintain a healthy distance and perspective’ and that platforms and content moderation teams had a role to play in mitigating ‘coordinated campaigns’.
And Noel reiterated that it was ‘crucial for our individual development that we can hold mature feelings about ourselves and others being both good and bad at the same time.’
He added: ‘If we don’t do this then we end up trying to dispel the ‘bad’ by projecting it outwards onto others and then try to destroy them.’
But ultimately, this is a moral dilemma that fans will have to encouter time and time again given the fallible nature of humans.
‘The idea that “all your faves are problematic” is probably true, so we always face those choices,’ Dr Ruth concluded.
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