about to say something deeply controversial but the reason us luke stans will never be free of parasocial shipping nonsense and fans disguised as haters is because we’re way too kind to people who deserve zero grace and let them dominate spaces.
luke’s biggest fanbase arguably came from bridgerton/polin which means many luke fans are just shippers. not people who support him as an actor. not people who care about his work. just people obsessed with 'lukola', who want him to live out their fantasy.
go look at their accounts. it’s all about his personal life, shady posts about his gf/friends, and nothing about his actual career. no excitement for non-bridgerton projects. these are not luke fans. but they’re loud. and take up so much air in this fandom that they end up representing us by default.
meanwhile, an actual luke fan, someone who’s brought us content, organised a birthday fundraiser, promoted all his projects, gets chased off twitter just for saying antonia should post more luke content. like. she made a light comment about the fact that his girlfriend exists and they crucified her. that’s how twisted it’s gotten.
and then they turn around like “we only care about luke!! we don’t care about the adjacents!!” okay. then why do you spend 90% of your time harassing the people around him and spiraling over every move they make?
i have plenty of issues with jakolas and certain nicola solo stans (stans who shit on luke btw. you can definitely stan one and not the other). but they do one thing right, making new spaces where delusional shippers aren’t welcome. and honestly? we should take notes.
these people don’t see luke as a person. they see him as an object to control. the second he steps outside of that box, they lash out. and suddenly we’re in this upside-down reality where you can slutshame or misgender a woman and get 100 likes, but if you dare compliment her or even acknowledge her existence in a positive way, you get chased offline?
we shouldn't be letting these people police us, setting the rules of what’s acceptable in this fandom. we can say antonia’s pretty without creating deranged fan accounts for a real relationship. we can think they’re cute and just be glad luke's happy. we can exist here as actual luke fans without playing nice with people who only want to tear down everything that luke does. stop giving these people space. reclaim it.
