People on Reddit are defending celebrities who get hate for ridiculously stupid reasons — or in some cases, no reason at all.
It all started when Reddit user u/mac_128 posed a viral question to the internet: "Who's a celebrity that receives way more hate than they deserve?"
Here are some of the top-voted responses from users:
1. "Guy Fieri. Great guy who contributes lots to charity and was especially helpful for the service industry during the pandemic."
2. "T-Pain gets blamed for popularizing the use of autotune in pop music to make up for bad vocals/vocalists. He’s a talented performer with a beautiful voice (example: his Tiny Desk Concert for NPR). He was using autotune as an instrument or like a synthesizer — just trying to create a cool, different effect/aesthetic. It’s not T-Pain’s fault the music industry decided to use it to prop up crap vocalists."
3. "Kristen Stewart. She blew up in popularity and got a lot of hate from Twilight. I even read the first book before the movie and she did a great Bella, since she's a nothing character."
4. "Britney Spears. That woman has been through, and is still going through, some serious shit."
5. "Tom Felton and Jack Gleeson (Draco Malfoy and Joffrey Lannister). They got so much hate mail from idiot fans who can’t distinguish between characters and the actors playing them that they both quit acting. (Though Tom eventually came back.) People are so fucking stupid. The whole reason why we hated Malfoy and Joffrey so much was because the actors did a great job portraying evil characters, not because the actors themselves were bad."
6. "Monica Lewinsky. ... The media called it the 'Monica Lewinsky scandal' rather than the 'President Bill Clinton scandal.' He was in the most powerful position on earth, was married, yet the scandal was named after the 20-year-old intern."
7. "Courtney Stodden. ... They were vilified when they should have been helped."
8. "Anne Hathaway. I don't get it."
9. "Avril Lavigne. ... I can understand that some people don’t like her music, but she is not a bad person."
10. "JoJo Siwa. ... Not a fan, but she’s really neat. One thing that annoys me is when people tell her to grow up. 1) She likes dressing that way. 2) It helps appeal to her child fanbase!"
11. "Nickelback. I'm not especially a fan, but I don't get where the outright hatred comes from."
12. "Andrew Garfield. That guy is a good actor, but his infamous reputation of being in The Amazing Spider-Man makes him get hated."
13. "People have always been pretty rough on Mary-Kate Olsen. I think opinion is shifting a little on the Olsens, partly because we see now how gross the early 2000s were to young female stars. Still, I think she'll forever be thought of as an unhinged, joyless sorcerer crackhead crone who cut down Heath Ledger in his prime."
14. "Daisy Ridley. People who are upset about the most recent Star Wars trilogy blame her for 'ruining the franchise,' and it’s entirely unjustified. I’m not surprised she’s not on social media!"
15. "Kelly Marie Tran. She played Rose in the new Star Wars trilogy. Relentlessly harassed for the crimes of being Asian and being in a bad movie. 1) She did not write the movie. 2) Even if she DID write the movie, that doesn't justify misogynistic/racist harassment and hatred directed toward her. Bunch of deranged, low-life, racist fuckwads. It makes me so angry to think about."
16. "Meghan Markle. The crazy British tabloid papers that pick on her for the stupidest shit is insane. She just released a children's book, and you should just take a look at some of the headlines and criticism. So glad she and Harry left that toxic environment and got back control of their life."
17. "Ed Sheeran! He’s a totally decent guy who I quite like, and yet I see hate memes for him way more than for other artists. And there was that whole thing with 'Afterglow' on TikTok. Why in the world do so many people hate Ed Sheeran???"
And finally...
18. "Taylor Swift. She gets way too much hate for writing songs from her experience. Every musician does it, but when it comes to her, suddenly it's unacceptable to write and be successful."
You can read the full thread of responses on Reddit.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.