In regards to your recent post where someone compares george to Jeffery Epstein...I've actually been seeing more and more people call him a p*dophile as of late, especially on tiktok. It's always in reference to the Ginger Baker story, or the "licking beatle" statement he allegedly made about Christina Applegate...Now, I don't really believe the latter all that much but I don't want to be biased either. I don't think he's a nonce either, it's just hard to...be his fan nowadays? People make it a problematic contest amongst the beatles and I'm sick of it. I even saw a comment from another reddit thread from 10 months ago claiming the following:
"You know. this makes me think about that strange gossip website that posted that George used to go to a country to... you know, do immoral things with young girls. I still call it BS because the website it's pretty fulfilled with conspiracy theories and Qanon. And the post said that "the girls are now preparing to sue his state" in 2018, and nothing happened. Again, I don't think it's true. But I can't help but think about it"
and I can't find a SINGLE source for this. Whats worse is the commenter said they think it isn't true, which, if you did, WHY comment that??? I hate feeling like I'm defending a predator, when I know I'm *not*. Obviously there's a lot of shit we don't know about George, but for so many people to claim he's an actual criminal lately feels awful. I legitimately saw a tiktok comment (on a joke post, mind you) claiming so boldly that a George fan hating on John is ironic considering he's a p*dophile. Like, WHAT? The OP said themself that they know none of the beatles are perfect people, but the commenter doubled down on saying how disgusting George was. I feel like the fandoms gotten so so bad about this morally superior attitude. I don't know how to move forward about this.
You know, I'm old enough to remember the world without internet, and I often think that I much preferred it, because back then we of course didn't have all the wonderful things the world wide web has brought us, but we also didn't have the possibility to lie anonymously about everything and everyone and have those lies spread far and wide. We are now living in a world where truth and facts don't matter and everyone starting from the politically elected leaders openly lie and lie and lie and no one bats an eyelid.
I'm not on tiktok, but the more I know about it, the more dangerous it sounds. I've talked about it and its harmful and dangerous algorithm with the kids I teach countless times. By all accounts it seems to be a sewer of malicious lies. I don't know if you've read my lennison fics but the modern fandom is one of the themes in the story I'm writing now. Yesterday while writing the next chapter I was trying to come up with all sorts of horrible and harmful rumors about J&G and felt embarrassed and almost scared to be writing such filth, but apparently I was not exaggerating at all. The reality seems to be much worse...
But let's not get sidetracked.
Yes, George's joke about Nettie Baker was stupid and disgusting beyond belief and I wrote about it a while back when I made a reblog about the shitty things they did while on drugs. And unfortunately I can see him making that distasteful remark about Christina Applegate too, BUT he didn't make it when she was a teenagar. He's supposed to have said it to her co-star David Faustino who was 13/14 when Married With Children aired and I think we can be pretty sure that Faustino didn't have THAT conversation with George then or for several years after that. The show ran for 11y and by the end of it C.A. was 26. So, yes, it was pretty disgusting, but anyone claiming that it happened when she was 16/17 is lying or doesn't know any better.
Btw, that show is thoroughly disgusting. I remember watching back in the day (when you just watched whatever was on) and thinking that something is really wrong with this whole thing. It still makes me shudder. It being such a massive hit tells a lot about the world of the 80s/early 90s.
I think it's safe to say that no one has had their lives studied and scrutinized more than the four Beatles and there has NEVER been any serious claims or accusations of pedophilia or abuse of children. They never had 13y old "girlfriends" like some very famous members of some very famous bands. Never. And there's never been accusations or serious rumors about any sexual abuse/non-con, which is pretty unbelievable considering how much they fucked all over the world. So George "travelling" is nothing but an incredibly malicious lie. Just forget about it. And you right about that redditor: if you yourself don't believe the story, why repeat it.
The "morally superior attitude" you mentioned is so fucking real and it's one more negative thing the internet has brought. People love judging other people. Gossiping, backstabbing and moral posturing have been our favorite pastime since the dawn of humanity, but social media has taken it to whole other level. One example of that is the way the word "pedophile" gets thrown around these days. Try to ignore it and stay away from the poisonous spaces like tiktok.
The Beatles were about joy and laughter and the magic of music. They were also very, very young men dealing with unprecedented fame and everything it brought with it and looking back I think they did pretty well. Keep loving them and George, it will bring you joy and laughter. And they absolutely deserve it <3
