Just last month, Sarah Drew departed from Grey’s Anatomy.
Since then, some of her fans have apparently been harassing her friend and colleague who continues to act on the long-running ABC drama.
Sarah is speaking out … and pleading with her fans to be kind.
Taking to Twitter, Sarah Drew writes to her followers:
“I need to say something to some of you.”
Note that she is not blaming everyone for the actions of bad apples.
“I say ‘some’ because I know that many of you are not participating in this.”
She acknowledges that fans are, of course, passionate about the media that they consume.
“Look, I know these characters mean so much to you — believe me, they mean a lot to me, too — but I do not feel defended when you attack my friends.”
Some of her fans have been giving Kelly McCreary a very hard time.
“My beautiful, loving, loyal sister, Kelly, is a brilliant, fiercely talented team player who ALWAYS shows up and dedicates herself to the stories she is asked to tell.”
Actors should not be attacked for the roles that they play. Obviously.
“Please stop attacking her for doing her job.”
She implores them to remember that the actors are friends.
“When you hurt her, you hurt me.”
She hopes that people will support McCreary as they supported her.
“When you show kindness to her, you show kindness to me.”
She then has a message that we should all take to heart.
“Please be Kind.”
See, Sarah Drew’s character on Grey’s Anatomy, for those of you who haven’t watched the series since the Bush Administration, was in a relationship with Jesse Williams’ character.
A lot of fans, as they watch a show, grow attached not only to characters but to relationships. These fans are known as “shippers,” whether the relationship that they adore is canon or exists only in their hopes and dreams.
Now that Drew’s character has departed from the series, Kelly McCreary’s character is in a relationship with Williams.’
Though these fans, of course, are perfectly aware that these are fictional characters played by actors, sometimes, when you’re passionate about something, it can be easy to blur the lines.
And they’ll send real hate to real people.
Drew is absolutely right for speaking up in defense of her friend. Obviously.
One of the problems with the ready accesibility of actors these days is that they can see their fans at their worst.
For every few dozen people who just tweet politely at their faves, there is some bad apple who tries to ruin social media for everyone else.
A lot of people don’t realize that they are sexually harassing their favorite celebrities. Telling your friend that you’re crushing on a hot actor is one thing. Tweeting to them what you’d like to do with them is … something else.
Livetweeting can then become a hazard, because people might tag an actor as they tweet their hate at a character.
That’s not appropriate. it’s harassment. It’s toxic. It’s also, quite frankly, embarrassing.
It may be that what has fans really upset is the shocking departures of two beloved actors — and their characters.
But that wasn’t McCreary’s fault.
There were also people who tried to blame series star Ellen Pompeo, claiming that her hard-fought salary increase was responsible for the series thinning its cast to save money.
That has been widely dismissed as absurd.
Sometimes, when fans are angry, they blame the wrong people.
We just wish that social media did not make it so easy for them to lash out. Please think before you tweet.
Please be kind.