so, we need to talk.
not liking a ship or a character is okay. more than okay, it’s completely normal. but harassing a young actress online it’s not.
these past few days i’ve seen people send her messages from complaining about a couple’s age difference to saying they wish she would drop dead. just now someone said to me on twitter that ‘grace van dien is a pervert who does not understands eddie is gay and that ‘joe’ should be protected from her’. and why is she a ‘pervert’, i asked? because she shares edissy fanfiction and fanart online.
tweeting that you wished she would catch on fire because she was confirmed on a fan convention, just because the man you worship will be there as well? saying that she’s a ‘slut’ and that she’s pathetic for wanting to ‘jump on his dick’ (their words, not mine)? well, this is not normal behavior.
joseph quinn is not a child, stop babying an almost 30 yr old man - he does not need your ‘protection’. he is not your friend, he is not your colleague and he’s definitely not your boyfriend. he is not eddie. you don’t know him. you know who does know him personally? grace van dien, who is a real person who can read the awful things you send her. a person who has been nothing but nice to everyone who interacts with her online.
things we say online are real and extremely dangerous. as a lawyer (even if not based in the us) i can safely say grace van dien can take legal action against a lot of people. i honestly hope she does. this type of behavior cannot go unpunished.
in the end, this is not about edissy or steddie. this is not about people thinking the duffer brothers wrote eddie as gay/bi/ or trans. this stopped being about fictional characters a while ago.
this is about people crossing the line between what’s real and what’s fiction. this is about the cult of celebrity worshipping. and this is about people needing to realize that this man is an actor whos getting paid to do a job. he is not going to fall in love with you. he is not yours to protect.
if you are one of these people who think they know a famous person because of how much you ‘love’ them, you need to seek help. this is dangerous behavior and soon someone is going to get in legal trouble over it.
