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I know our first thought was it was part of the show because the WWE is known for pulling stunts like that. Not this time. That was real. The guy is still in jail.
I was reading through that guy's Twitter feed yesterday, and what I saw was disturbing. He's been sending aggressive tweets to Vince McMahon and Triple H for a long time. He's been very vocal about hating the women wrestlers having main event status. Then I read today that he's already had legal trouble for stalking an MMA fighter.
It reminds me of the mass shooters that are all too common here in America. The signs are right there in everybody's faces, and no one does anything about it. That guy needs to be in a locked mental facility before he kills somebody.
Whenever anything like that happens, a lot goes though my mind. We've all been saddened a number of times by deranged fans who have followed through with killing their obsession; John Lennon, Rebecca Schaeffer, Selena, Dimebag Darrell, etc.
Over the years, I've worked with many amazing actors and musicians of varying degrees of fame. The one thing they all have in common is "fans".
Most of the fans are great, really nice people. They show their support by showing up for movies and concerts, watch the TV shows, buy the products, etc.
In the past, writing fan letters was the thing to do... hoping they would actually read them. We never knew if they really did or not because you would rarely get a reply. My guess is the celebrities never even saw them and they immediately became landfill.
These days, it's all about this evil social media.
Most people live in reality and have their heads on straight when interacting with their favorite celebrities on social media and have fun with it. Hell, I was doing my happy dance when NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon replied to one of my tweets. That was a lot of fun.
Then you have those "fans" who, the moment they follow someone on twitter or a "friend" request is accepted on Facebook, believe in their minds that they really are friends with those celebrities.
I'm not talking about teenagers at the moment. Teenagers always have their crushes. The majority of the "fans" I'm talking about in this post are adults, most in their 30's, some even older. People you would think would be mature enough to have a grasp on reality, but they don't.
I see a lot of these "fans" because, due to my involvement with certain actors and musicians, they think that by "friending" or following me, I'll help them get to their obsession.
At first I accepted the "friend" requests on Facebook and followed back on Twitter. But it became overwhelming for me at times because I would get private messages from them asking me all kinds of personal questions about their obsession, and when I refused to answer, they would get extremely belligerent and threatening with me. One day I'd had enough of it and did a Facebook and Twitter purge and deleted or blocked all of them. I haven't accepted any requests from "fans" of my friends or entertainment acquaintances since.
I have noticed ALL of these obsessive fans have the same social media behaviors. They ALL post those self-hating memes about being ugly, nobody loving them and how much they hate their lives etc. They ALL tag their obsession CONSTANTLY with photos, videos, status updates, etc... even when they have nothing to do with the person they're obsessed with... anything to be in their faces every single day. They ALL constantly profess their love, even referring to themselves as Mrs."celebrity name" or Mr. "celebrity name". They ALL get very upset when their obsession doesn't reply to something they've posted on social media.
Even though I personally know their obsession, they don't always reply to my comments or wish me happy birthday either, but I don't get angry and I don't let it ruin my day. That's no way to live.
Here's the reality of it. Celebrities have thousands, some millions of followers. The odds of them even seeing your Twitter tweets to them is next to nothing. What you see celebrities post on social media is their PUBLIC IMAGE. Their public image is rarely what their private lives are. I know some public figures share more of themselves on social media than others, but most celebrities want their private lives to stay private. So, if you think you know a celebrity just because you follow their every move on social media, you really don't know as much as you think you do. You are their job... their job is to entertain you. There are thousands of fans just like you. They can't possibly know everyone on a deep, personal level.
As you've seen from my other blog posts, a lot of people I know fall somewhere in the LGBT spectrum. Gay men will NEVER romantically love a straight woman and a lesbian will NEVER romantically love a man. You'd be surprised at how many "fans" think they're the exception and will be with them anyways.
It's really kind of sad sometimes when somebody obsesses so much over a fantasy they'll never have. They miss out on having real, healthy relationships with good people.
If you're one of those "fans" I described above, please talk to a therapist to figure out why you obsess over celebrities to that degree. Once you put everything in perspective, you'll be much happier.
If you know of someone who is aggressively obsessed with celebrities, do something to help get them counseling before they hurt somebody. Don't wait until it's too late.
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