There's nothing wrong with being a big fan of someone famous. It's fun to interact with your faves on social media, send fan mail, and attend shows and meet-and-greets.
However, some fans take their parasocial relationships with celebrities too far. They feel entitled to someone's time or attention because they've watched their show or bought their album. Others blur the lines between fan and friend, creating a toxic or even dangerous situation — online and off.
Here are 19 times celebrities called out toxic fan culture:
1. Keke Palmer called out a fan who ignored her three polite declines to pose for a picture and recorded the actor against her will.
"No means no, even when it doesn’t pertain to sex," Keke tweeted.
She added, "If I went off on her I would’ve been wrong, so I just nervously laughed while my privacy was invaded upon."
2. When Finn Wolfhard was only 14, a couple followed him to his Toronto home.
As soon as he got to his front door, they asked him to take a picture with them.
He told ABC News, "I was like, 'No, you followed me back for four blocks, that’s super creepy.'"
3. Shawn Mendes had a fan show up at his doorstep in the middle of winter pretending to be lost.
He told First We Feast, "She knew who I was. [She said], 'I just need someone to drive me to Starbucks.'"
He continued, "She had me. There was no way of getting out of it...I drove her."
4. After Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson ended their engagement, he was "online bullied and in public by people for nine months."
On Instagram, he said, "I’ve kept my mouth shut. Never mentioned any names, never said a word about anyone or anything. ... I’m trying to understand how when something happens to a guy the whole entire world just trashes him without any facts or frame of reference."
"I just want you guys to know. No matter how hard the internet or anyone tries to make me kill myself. I won’t. I’m upset I even have to say this. To all those holding me down and seeing this for what it is — I see you and I love you," he continued.
Ariana shared his post to her own Instagram story. She added, "I know you already know this but I feel I need to remind my fans to please be gentler with others. I really don’t endorse anything but forgiveness and positivity. I care deeply about Pete and his health. I’m asking you to please be gentler with others, even on the internet."
She continued, "I’ve learned [through] my own mistakes not to be reactive on socials so I do understand. But you truly don’t know what anybody is experiencing ever. Regardless of what they choose to display on social media or how they may appear in public. I can promise you that. So please let whatever point you’re trying to make go. I will always have irrevocable love for him, and if you’ve gotten any other impression from my recent work, you might have missed the point."
5. Similarly, Cardi B called out fans who bashed her then-estranged husband Offset for surprising her onstage to ask her to take him back.
In an Instagram video, she said, "Violating my [baby's] father is not gonna make me feel better 'cause at the end of the day, that's still family."
Alluding to Pete Davidson's post, she said, "I just don't like that bashing online thing. ... I wouldn't want my baby father to have that feeling."
She continued, "I know how painful it is when you have millions of people bashing you every single day. I don't like that, and it doesn't make me feel any better."
6. Justin Bieber called out a Selena Gomez fan who encouraged fellow fans to "fucking bombard" his wife Hailey Bieber's Instagram Live with messages about "Jelena and how [his ex-girlfriend] Selena is better."
Sharing the fan's video on his Instagram story, Justin said, "This sad excuse of a human just encouraged people on video to literally go after my wife. ... Telling people to say that my previous relationship was better so on and so [forth]. I just wanted to share this so people get an idea of what we face on a day-to-day."
He continued, "After watching that, I could easily let it steal my joy, but then I think about [the fan's] life and how miserable she must be to want to spend her life trying to make others feel small."
Hailey shared his message on her Instagram story, adding, "I would never in a million years wish for someone to be treated this way, and I will never condone this kind of hateful behavior. ... Wishing the young woman in that video all the best. I hope she finds love, peace, and happiness in this life!"
7. Ewan McGregor called out a Star Wars fan who sent his Obi-Wan Kenobi costar Moses Ingram "the most horrendous, racist DMs."
In a Twitter video, he said, "I heard some of them this morning, and it just broke my heart."
Then, he continued, "Moses is a brilliant actor. She's a brilliant woman, and she's absolutely amazing in this series. ... It just sickened me to my stomach to hear that this had been happening."
"I just want to say as the leading actor on the series, as the executive producer on the series, that we stand with Moses," he said.
"We love Moses, and if you're sending her bullying messages, you're no Star Wars fan in my mind. There's no place for racism in this world, and I totally stand with Moses," he concluded.
8. Cole Sprouse called out fans who "feel entitled to [his] privacy precisely because [he] never [indulges] them."
On his Instagram story, he said, "Attacking my friends, baseless accusations, leaking my address, and sending death threats are all qualities of insanity and fanaticism."
He continued, "Choose humanity, stop being [clowns]."
9. On Twitter, Kathy Griffin called Demi Lovato the "biggest douche celebrity" she'd ever met. In response, the pop star's fans flooded the comedian's replies with death threats.
Calling out her own fans, Demi tweeted, "I love you guys so much, but y’all gotta chill with sending hate toward other people. Regardless of what they say or do. The cruel things some of you are saying can really, REALLY hurt people. It’s called cyber-bullying, and some things should NEVER be wished upon EVER."
She continued, "It makes me so sad to see how mean people can really be after all I’ve spoken out about anti-bullying. Be an example for other haters. I know my #Lovatics are better than that. I really appreciate you guys always having my back, but this is going way too far."
10. Once, when Matt Smith walked off set, a woman approached him with a poster of a hedgehog, declared that he looked like the hedgehog, then tried to kiss him.
He told MTV UK, "She tried to kiss me, but really, really aggressively."
"Security had to, like, pick her up, and she just kept screaming the word 'hedgehog,'" he said.
11. Norman Reedus was bitten by a fan at a meet-and-greet.
He told CONAN, "I was taking a picture, and then she kind of started shaking a little bit, and then she kind of looked up at the sky and kinda howled like a werewolf." Then, she bit him on the chest.
The police escorted her out, but he declined to press charges because she "just had a moment" and "seemed like a nice lady."
12. During his One Direction days, Niall Horan was attending a music festival when a fan jumped on his back to get his attention.
He told Cambio, "She wanted a piggyback and a picture."
"I kind of fell over," he added.
13. About 30 years ago, John Travolta caught a fan hiding in a closet inside his Santa Barbara home.
He told People, "It did scare me, but it turned out to be an innocent person. She was a girl who probably wanted to meet me and didn’t know how to do it."
14. In 2019, 5 Seconds of Summer fans bullied Sierra Deaton, the girlfriend (and now fiancé) of lead singer Luke Hemmings, by comparing her to Abby Mallard, the "ugly duckling" character from Chicken Little.
In response, Luke tweeted, "I see stuff like this too often. It makes me sad women make other women feel like they’re not good enough. The same people that talk about kindness & being PC say awful things to someone I care about every day."
He continued, "I know this isn’t everyone, but I see it a lot & had to say something."
Michael Clifford, the band's guitar player, also replied, "I usually don’t respond to stuff like this because I don’t want to bring attention to the negativity, but it’s time something changes. Our fans should be kind to one another and to our loved ones."
In further support of Sierra, bass player Calum Hood added, "Sierra is a BEAUT."
15. Waterparks lead singer Awsten Knight addressed how hurtful it can be when his own fans make fun of him on social media — even if they think it's all in good humor.
He told Louder Sound, "They forget we don’t actually know each other. I feel like it’s hard for people to differentiate between social media and the actual reality. So when a shitload of people are like, 'Dumb shit crackhead!' every day, it’s like, oh god."
He continued, "I think social media has made people feel like they’re closer to artists or whoever than they actually are. When people feel close to you, they feel like they can poke at you."
However, he added that he's begun setting boundaries by blocking fans who cross a line. Comparing it to setting boundaries in a friendship, he said, "If all someone’s time spent with you is fucking with you, then that person is not a friend, that person is someone who fucks with you."
16. Amy Schumer decided to stop taking pictures with fans after a scary encounter with a man who refused to take no for an answer.
On Instagram, she said, "This guy in front of his family just ran up next to me scared the s--t out of me. Put a camera in my face...I asked him to stop, and he said, 'No, it's America, and we paid for you.' This was in front of his daughter. I was saying stop and no. Great message to your kid."
"Yes, legally, you are allowed to take a picture of me. But I was asking you to stop and saying no. I will not take pictures with people anymore, and it's because of this dude in Greenville," she continued.
17. Similarly, Emilia Clarke changed her stance on taking selfies with fans after a man asked for one while she was having a panic attack.
On the Table Manners podcast, she said, "I was on the phone to my mum saying, 'I feel like I can’t breathe, I don’t know what’s going on.' I’m crying and crying, and this guy’s like, 'Can I get a selfie?' I was like, 'I can’t breathe, I’m really sorry.'"
Now, she offers to sign something for fans instead of taking a selfie together. She said, "Then you have a chat and you’re actually having a truthful human-to-human thing, as opposed to it being this other thing that probably isn’t nice for them and isn’t that nice for you."
18. Emma Watson turns down photo requests from fans for her own safety.
She told Vanity Fair, "If someone takes a photograph of me and posts it, within two seconds they’ve created a marker of exactly where I am within 10 meters. They can see what I’m wearing and who I’m with. I just can’t give that tracking data."
She continued, "I’ll say, 'I will sit here and answer every single Harry Potter fandom question you have, but I just can’t do a picture' — and much of the time, people don’t bother."
19. And finally, Justin Bieber also decided to stop taking pictures with fans because "it has gotten to the point that people won’t even say hi to [him] or recognize [him] as a human."
On Instagram, he said, "I want to be able to keep my sanity. I realize people will be disappointed, but I don’t owe anybody a picture."
In response to a fan's critical comment, he added, "If you think setting boundaries is being a douche, I’m the biggest douche around, but I think it’s smart and will be the only way I last."
He continued, "I’m going to keep making decisions I feel are fit for my growth, and no human being will make me feel bad for it."