People Are Sharing The TV Characters Who Don't Deserve The Hate They Got, And Some Of These Are A Bit Controversial

Jenny Humphrey isn't *that* bad.

Recently, we asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the TV characters who are unfairly hated. Here are some of their responses!

1. Andie McPhee from Dawson's Creek

Sony Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

"For some reason, people seem to dislike Andie among the Dawson's Creek characters, but I always found her to be a fascinating and absolutely likable character. I loved how loyal she was to her brother, Jack (and protective of him). I loved her relationship with Pacey and hated how she was written off and then excluded from the series finale."

—mattyc3

2. Ted Mosby from How I Met Your Mother

Eric McCandless / CBS / Courtesy Everett Collection

"He wasn't perfect by any means, and maybe a bit misguided, but I don't think he deserves the universal hate he gets. There are definitely far more loathsome characters out there that people can channel their Ted hate into."

—lindseyb4807303a1

3. Vanessa Abrams from Gossip Girl

The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection

"As someone who consumed the books before the show came out, Vanessa was a main character. But they made her into a recurring one for the show and never really gave her any storylines of her own. She sort of just felt forced into other people’s storylines, which made her less of her own character. And then they wrote her out. There’s also something to be said about the inherent anti-Blackness of the choice to make her biracial (Black/white) and just do NOTHING with it. The Gossip Girl writers had no idea what to do with any character who wasn’t white, cisgender, and heterosexual. And while I love the show for what it was, the mistreatment of Vanessa Abrams will always be a stain upon the show for me."

—kyronp

4. Dawn Summers from Buffy

0th Century Fox Film / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Sure, she whined, A LOT, that first season, but as a former teenage chick myself, I probably acted just like her. Seeing her with adult eyes made me rethink her. She grew over the years and became a brave woman just like her sister. What really seals the deal is the seventh season episode 'Potential.' The speech Xander gives to her at the end really showed how much Dawn had grown."

—daisydee

5. Owen Hunt from Grey’s Anatomy

ABC

"He just gets screwed over. He just needs to find someone who wants the same things he wants."

—savtor03

6. Ross from Friends

Warner Bros. / Courtesy: Everett Collection

"I’ll be the cheerleader for Ross Gellar. Don’t get me wrong, he definitely wasn’t perfect and had his terrible moments (not wanting Ben to play with a doll, being jealous when Rachel worked with Mark, not wanting to hire a male nanny), but most of the most iconic moments came from him as well (“PIVOT”, he’s 1/2 of “the routine”, “I’m FINE!” “MY SANDWICH!”). He’s probably actually my first or second favorite character on the show."

—deannah4d2cdb4a9

"I don’t understand the hate. He did a lot of good stuff. He bought Phoebe her first bike. He didn’t date the girl from the baby store because Rachel didn’t want him to. He was supportive of Rachel and Joey dating."

—kelseyr494ca6f4d

7. Karen from The Office

Paul Drinkwater / NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

"She was Jim’s rebound and he strung her along too long. At the time that season aired, she was so hated!!"

—kwo

"Everyone just hated her because she wasn't Pam. But she was funny and kind to Pam and did nothing wrong!"

—Itsbananas

8. Lori from The Walking Dead

AMC

"She thought her husband was dead, Shane manipulated her (and attempted to assault her), and as a human going through an apocalypse, [she] was understandably horrified when her husband killed Shane. I can see why people hate her, but personally I think she gets a lot more than she should."

—caitlinroseg

"I have never understood the Lori hate. She dumped Shane immediately when she found out Rick was alive and never would have been with him if he hadn't lied in the first place. I believe she would have held out hope for much longer than she did, but he lied and said Rick was dead already."

—shellezbellez

9. Zach from Gilmore Girls

The WB

"Sure, Zach took a while to pursue Lane, but he also stepped in and worked at Luke's when Lane couldn't work anymore, and he was a good husband/father. When he got the chance to tour, he not only stipulated his family had to go with him, but he was also hopeful that Lane would be able to drum with him. Everyone always says that Dave would have been so much better for her, but we hardly saw him. He might not have been in the long run."

—hollygolightly20102

10. Emily from Friends

Warner Brothers / Courtesy: Everett Collection

"If you look at the whole fiasco from her perspective, it's obvious that while she was a little over the top with her demands at some point, the real asshole was Ross. I felt quite sorry for her."

—judy24

11. Tammy from Shameless

Paul Sarkis / Showtime / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Fans hated her because she actually tried to make Lip get out of his family's shadow and do something with his life. I said what i said."

—rmadu13

12. Octavia from The 100

The CW

"She had lost everything [and] lived under the floor for 16 years, [then] had to lead Wonkru through the second Primfya. ... Lincoln had been killed, and she was only like 20, and [she] didn't know anything about how to lead. She was just having a hard time."

—lilykane

13. Jenny from Gossip Girl

Giovanni Rufino / The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection

"She got dragged for behavior that other characters were celebrated for."

—newlyhuman

14. Marley from Glee

Fox

"I think Marley got a lot of hate when the new group of students started on Glee because the writers were trying to position her as The New Rachel ... when she was clearly an entirely different character. ... Marley was actually very humble and didn’t always necessarily love the spotlight. Between her mom being the school lunch lady and her eating disorder plot, she had a pretty rough go of it and I wish they had explored more of those actual difficulties. ... Instead, she just became a punching bag for the other characters because she fainted at Regionals. (Again, she had an eating disorder THAT WAS KICKSTARTED BY ANOTHER GLEE CLUB MEMBER). There was also the time that Will kicked her out of a performance because she wasn’t dressed provocatively enough. The writers made Marley seem like a real stick in the mud and she got a lot of hate for it, but she was just an impressionable high school girl in a toxic environment, surrounded by narcissists and led by a teacher whose ego was more important than the health and well-being of his students."

—jennr4ab11fa64

15. Steve in Season 1 of Stranger Things

Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Yes, he could have done better to stop his friends from slut-shaming Nancy, but I’ve been there. I’ve had that fear and insecurity. It’s hard to stand up to your friends. He wasn’t that bad in Season 1. Jonathan is a creep with his camera though, and we just let that slide???"

—kaylaelizabethm

"There’s a scene in Season 1 where Tommy takes his girlfriend’s dessert and Steve gives her his. It’s so subtle, but it’s there."

—hollygolightly20102

16. Rachel from One Tree Hill

The CW

"I know she's written as a bad character at the start, but she actually turns out to be really nice!"

—fuzzywuzzykoala

"She definitely was having a story arc where if there'd been better people in charge, it would have fully ended up her being that mean girl friend with the heart of gold. Unfortunately, the show then decided to have her marry Dan for his money and get really wild in that storyline. Like, essentially that storyline just kind of shit all over the previous character development and it made me really sad for the character. So much potential just kind of abandoned because the person in charge just decided they hated that character."

—callusedsilk

17. Zari from Legends of Tomorrow

The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection

"There is so much hate for 2.0, because she's not the same person as 1.0, and she's 'not like the other girls' People hate her because she's an influencer and ignore the rest of her story. She's a smart woman [and] uses those skills to help the Legends all the time. She's sweet, she's funny, she's a good friend, [and she's] a great big sister. Yes, she had a learning curve, but that's called character growth."

—constanvee

18. Dean from Gilmore Girls

Warner Bros. Television/ Courtesy: Everett Collection

"He was turned from a kind, respectful boyfriend into a controlling jerk by lazy writers who wanted Rory to be blameless in their breakup and refused to just let them grow apart. Dean is rightly concerned about Rory’s feelings for Jess and she gaslights him to no end before CHEATING on him, and then it gets turned around to him being the bad guy for breaking up with her. Dean wasn’t the problem, the refusal to let Rory be anything but the blameless victim was."

—danieob

19. Elena from The Vampire Diaries

The CW

"Everyone calls her selfish because people make a lot of sacrifices for her and [says] that she’s why Bonnie's grandma died etc., but like, her parents died, then her aunt died ... both her birth parents died, and then her brother died! People kept making sacrifices for her because they loved her, not because she expected it. She’s not the best or most interesting character, but she not as bad as she’s made [out to be]."

—nicolay

"I think if anything, Elena was a bit of a martyr, but the show constantly put her in the position for that to happen. ... It's not like ... Elena can change that she's a doppelgänger or that seemingly half the supernatural population is super horny for either using her or taking her out."

—callusedsilk

"Everyone hates her but loves Katherine. I don't get it. Also, she never made everything about her. In fact, she tried to stop people from trying to save her, but the Salvatore brothers were willing to risk everyone for her."

—ashleymiles1985

20. Luther Hargreeves from The Umbrella Academy

Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

"People were so bizarrely hateful of him after the first season when he was literally just as abused as the other kids, and in the context of the show, he did what he thought was right and what the plot was setting him up to do the whole time. Also, he's a total dorky sweetheart, how anyone thought he was a callous asshole is beyond me."

—danan49ee425a0

21. Skyler from Breaking Bad

Ursula Coyote / AMC / Courtesy Everett Collection

"I hated her the first time I watched the show. But the second time I watched it, I felt so bad for her. And I truly hated Walter White. I can’t believe how much Skyler tolerated from him. In real life, if I was in her situation, I would have left him immediately."

—akatb720

"Skyler was definitely a victim — Walt was horrible, her sister was horrible — give the woman a break! Was she delightful? No. But in all fairness, she was going through it!"

—fernaudrey

22. Wilhelmina Slater from Ugly Betty

Patrick Harbron / ABC / courtesy Everett Collection

"We all loved to hate her but should have been rooting for her all along. [She was a] boss queen who worked her way up from the ground to become a fashion powerhouse, only to be passed over by the useless rich son who didn't know anything about fashion."

—sabaha4dec3f8d4

23. And finally, Tyrell Wellick from Mr. Robot

USA

"Yeah, he may have been a dickhead who was so shallow and at one point even murdered his rival's pregnant wife. But at least when it came to his obsession with Elliot, he let him have his own agency [and] did not treat him like an object or hurt his friends or family just to get close to him, unlike Vera, who did all of the above."

—tanyam44ab2253d

Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.