It’s always difficult as a fan whenever a media ends up having someone do something immoral(legal or illegal!). I’ve been through this rodeo so many times, ironically almost always with MCYT’s too(like seriously it’s kind of impressive in a sad way? Simultaneously one of the most wholesome communities and a cesspit of terrible people at the same time it’s crazy, even in the same small bubbles! Wilbur, Ori, now Avid? That’s not even including the copious amounts of childhood favs outed later on after I moved on from their content) but the fandom reactions tend to not really change.
I don’t personally plan to leave the vsmp fandom. It’s a near and dear place in my heart, and while due to some personal reasons I’ve been barely engaging in it the past few months, I still even after what happened love this media with all my heart. Unfortunately, many people do plan to, and I can’t blame them. This is a shit situation caused because someone decided to be a shitty person who also happened to be a major force behind making vsmp what we know and love. I have the upmost empathy for those avid(and Marm, though I have never personally engaged in content involving her) actions have affected, as well as towards anyone who’s been a victim of manipulative bad actors.
I understand how massive of a betrayal this feels for many, but know we don’t often get to see the true colours of content creators. They get opportunities to pick and choose which versions of themselves audiences get to see, a luxury that doesn’t apply to most, and even the people who did get to see an unedited, non-preformative(and even then, not entirely) version did not immediately pick up on their sketchy behaviour until much later. Hindsight only makes things apparent because of context, without that context many things wouldn’t be suspicious on their own to flag alarm. Do not blame yourself for not having known, but don’t look at every creator with the expectation that they too would be outed as a horrible person. That view will not truly defend you, just create senseless paranoia and confirmation bias.
This situation has also led to many comfort fics and AU’s I’ve enjoyed being discontinued, put on hold, deleted, orphaned, or etc. Do not blame anyone who decides to cut ties with their works. Though I personally don’t wish to see them deleted and encourage creators to look into alternatives it is the jurisdiction of the creator and only its creator what happens with their works.
I’ve also seen many discussions on what people should do about avids character, varying from redistributing his role in canon to other characters, replacing him with an oc(which unfortunately has its own issues, as you would need to completely reintroduce a new character and make your readers connect to them like they are everyone else which is a LOT harder of a task then it sounds. I admittedly will unfortunately be dropping or avoiding any fics that do this, not out of ill intent but because I simply cannot get myself invested in OC’s regardless of how good the plot is.) or pulling a character from another media or backstory to fill his role. Some have also resorted to just keeping avid in as is, but reducing his role in the plot, keeping his canon ending, or etc. I understand the difficulty it can be sometimes to separate characters from creators, but I sincerely hope that no matter what people decide to do, their actions not be harassed. I do not blame anyone for still being attached to the character, and I myself will mourn for what vsmp used to be. If you love the character still, all the power to you, so long as you don’t condone the actions of its creator. V!avid is the communities character now.