(since you mentioned him) i joined the phandom about 6 months after the whole charlie thing, and one thing that confused me to this day is why on earth phil didn't immediately cut ties with charlie afterwards, because if someone tried to out my partner in front of millions of people, that person would be dead to me. but then again, it would have probably been too obvious at that point in time to do that immediately. idk, i just hope he got therapy and became a better person (and maybe even reached out privately to apologise)
good take. but i don't know what should happen for Phil to cut ties immediately with anyone. also, i think the internet was very different back then and Dan was identifying as bisexual, kinda. so by saying that he preferred holding balls Charlie wasn't specifically outing him. it was a joke, a bold one but still a joke, and it could be turned into an even more funny joke, but damn, it escalated pretty fast. that "private stuff" did more damage than balls imo. like, man, you can have a beef on twitter dot com and joke around but there are things that you shouldn't say unless you're a complete dickhead. and yes, Charlie didn't say anything in the end but the fact that he could only because Dan got snappy at some point.. it said a lot. but also they were in their early 20s, very hard times if you ask me. add attention seeking to usual problems with education, jobs, friendships and relationships overall. it's sad that Charlie didn't think that him revealing "private stuff" would hurt not only Dan but also Phil. and Phil was more of a friend than Dan. like, i really think that sometimes people don't think about consequences not because they are bad people but because they are stupid and adrenaline is flowing in their veins, and that was exactly it.
