So the Robert Manion situation.
Iâm not going to get into exactly what happened here because it could be triggering to people and I donât want to explain it wrong by accident, but itâs on Robertâs Instagram story. If you donât have Instagram, itâs basically all over the tag for him on tumblr as well. Im feeling a lot of things that I donât really want to unpack right now, and I honestly donât know how to proceed in this fandom, so all I can offer here are a few PSAs. A lot of this is just kind of parroting what Iâve heard around the fandom, and if you think I said anything wrong here, you can absolutely let me know and I will do my best to fix it.
This goes without saying, but donât defend what he did. It was shitty and wrong. I can 100% understand the want to hope for the best, but thereâs no sugarcoating this.
You might have complicated feelings and thatâs ok. Other people might feel differently and thatâs ok too.
That being said, this isnât really about you, or me, or anyone except the people directly involved. Nobody owes us, as a fandom, anything. These are people who most of us donât know personally, and itâs none of our business except for what people decide to share.
I know everyone else has said this, but do not under any circumstances bother other Starkids and Starkid-adjacent folks about this, ESPECIALLY the person Robert tagged. Like I said before, this is not our business and nobody owes us shit.
Also, donât bother fellow fans to talk about it if they havenât or donât want to. Itâs a VERY sensitive thing and I can understand why it would make people uncomfortable.
Donât speculate. Iâve seen a lot of posts talking about why they think Robert came forward now, or why the person hasnât talked about it, and while I know you have good intentions, this isnât some fucking hexagon puzzle. These arenât characters in a musical. These are real people who are online and could potentially see this.
Speaking of characters, if you still like Ethan or hidgens or whoever, youâre not bad for liking them. They arenât Robert, even if they were played by him.
Youâre also not bad for having liked Robert in the past. You couldnât have known about it. Still, though, do be aware of your personal biases when posting about it. I, for one, really did like him and look up to him, especially as a bi person and an aspiring actor, and I know that that could affect the way I think about this.
If you didnât like Robert in the past thatâs all well and good, but for the love of god, please donât post shit about âwell I always got a bad vibe blah blah blah.â Youâre not better than people who were fans of him just because you werenât. This isnât your chance to morally one-up other people.
If youâre talking about what happened in detail, please make sure to use proper tags. If youâre not sure if/how to tag something, you can always put an âask to tag.â
JustâŠbe kind to each other, please. We donât know the full story, we donât know what Team Starkid is going to do, if Robert is going to be in nightmare time or future projects, and the only actions we can control are our own. Just do what you can to support the people who need it, step back if you need tp, and remember that there are real, human people seeing what you post.