Should celebrities be held accountable for online campaigns against their exes?
Recently, many female celebrities have been facing backlash for sending their fanbases' armies to attack their past partners. Although fans can be vicious toward anyone who dares to speak ill of their favorite celebrity, there's some debate on whether these artists should hold the responsibility to call off their fans from attacking their exes online.
Celebrities, especially singers, use their work and talents as an outlet to discuss and cope with significant events in their lives. One life experience that is common among many artists, and that sells well, is a breakup.
Whether their intention is to express their feelings or to seek revenge on an ex, when an artist's song or album is successful, it can prove to have a massive impact on said ex anyway. With the popularity of cancel culture and toxic fanbases, these exes can be exposed to brutal cyberbullying and aggressive torment.
No matter if you're a long-time celebrity or an up-and-coming star, once an artist has an established fanbase, fans will firmly defend their favorite star over anyone else. Recently, Taylor Swift released “Red (Taylor’s Version)” which uncovers Swift’s short-lived romance with actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
In Swift’s revealing album, she included a new 10-minute version of her song “All Too Well,” along with a short movie detailing the relationship and emphasizing Gyllenhaal's mistakes such as his hunger for power and hostile tendencies as well as the power imbalance in their relationship due to their nine-year age gap.
Swift implemented an abundance of symbols throughout her songs which many fans took upon themselves to decipher. Imagery, such as the infamous scarf which some Swift fans believe to symbolize her virginity, has never actually been confirmed by Swift or Gyllenhaal.
Swift has also never even explicitly stated whether the album is actually about her relationship with Gyllenhaal, but it begs the question as to if she is still liable for the damage it has caused on her ex-fling.
She is aware of the power of her fanbase, the self-proclaimed Swifties, and the abuse they have imposed on her other old flames such as Harry Styles, Joe Jonas and John Mayer. When including obvious lyrics in her songs that allude to one person with the knowledge of public information, it can’t lead to a surprise when fans discover and berate the ex in question.
Similar to Swift, rising star Olivia Rodrigo has been facing the same backlash after her debut album, “SOUR.” Formerly linked to "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series" co-star, Joshua Bassett, Rodrigo dedicated almost her entire album to their breakup and his subsequent relationship with singer and actress Sabrina Carpenter.
After the album’s astronomical success, many fans concocted theories about the relationship and ran with it. Bassett and Carpenter began to receive harmful messages and abuse on social media leading them to publicly request fans to not send hate their way.
Just like Swift, Rodrigo didn't reveal but heavily implied Bassett as the album’s main antagonist. Although we can never know for sure if both these singers wrote these albums out of spite or expression, what we do know is that these exes were significantly affected by the acclaimed songs.
So should these celebrities be held responsible for their fan bases and the bullying that their fans often inflict on their ex-boyfriends? Although these young, female artists are the ones who start the fire, they can’t be liable for others' actions. And while artists can't be censored, some believe that artists should discourage their fans from attacking their exes online.
But even though some relationships end more gracefully and allow for artists to part ways amicably, that's not the case for everyone. When artists write and sing songs, the most successful and honest lyrics come from experience, even if it means painting someone else in a bad light. They simply write what they know, and that's why so many of their fans resonate with these songs. It feels real to the audience because it's real to the artist.
One person cannot be held accountable for the years-long problem of cancel culture and toxic stan behavior — there's no point in avoiding writing songs about an ex. Fans will just find someone else to attack instead.