Top 10 Times a Fanbase Went Too Far

Death threats are certainly not a new thing in the toxic landscape of social media, and Josh McDermitt of “The Walking Dead” found himself the subject of some very dangerous and personal posts in 2017. It seems as if the show’s fans weren’t pleased with his character of Eugene, as McDermitt was the recipient of numerous death threats. This caused McDermitt to take to Facebook Live and post a video explaining his hurt and worry, stating, “I don’t know if you’re talking about Josh or Eugene.” He subsequently deleted all of his social media accounts. It looks like trolls can be even worse than walkers.

The first “Avengers” movie made $1.5 billion, and its sequel, “Age of Ultron,” came in at about $1.4 billion. It’s no surprise that within the hundreds of millions of people who went to see the movies, there would be a few bad apples. Upon the release of “Age of Ultron,” Joss Whedon was bombarded with hostile social media posts, with most of them stemming from the perceived lower quality of the movie and Whedon’s supposed sexism regarding the treatment of Black Widow. Whedon quit social media shortly after “Age of Ultron’s” release, and while he implied that it was for personal reasons, many still believe that he left due to the toxicity.

“The Dark Knight” was one of the best movies of 2008, so Batman fans were damn-near shaking with anticipation for its follow-up, “The Dark Knight Rises.” So when they saw that a few professional critics had some not-so-nice things to say about the movie, they launched into a bloodthirsty frenzy. Various critics became the subjects of some extremely harsh statements and death threats, causing the reviews aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes to shut down its user comments. The site’s editor-in-chief later stated that “threats and hate speech will get your commenting privileges revoked” and declared that he would ban users if the antagonistic behavior continued.

And here we have fans of a show literally driving away the subjects of their devotion with their toxic behavior. How funny is that? Adam, Kari, and Grant all posted in a dedicated “MythBusters” fan forum, as they found it to be a good way to interact with their fans. However, t said fans’ behavior soon caused problems. Adam eventually left because he was receiving death threats over myth outcomes. Grant left because he was getting sick of the fans who apparently knew more than they did. And Kari eventually got sick of the constant sexual comments and lustful behavior of her admirers.

“Babylon 5” may not have had the largest fanbase, but it was certainly a devoted one. Unfortunately for the show’s creator, J. Michael Straczynski, devoted fans are often the most easily-frustrated. Straczynski was active on the show’s fan forums throughout its original run, despite often being the subject of harassment. However, things took a turn when Claudia Christian, who played Susan for four seasons, was forced to leave the show due to contract negotiations. This resulted in scary phone calls and death threats issued directly to Straczynski, resulting in him significantly limiting his contributions to the forum.

“Doctor Who” fans have quite the reputation for being toxic. While we’re sure that 99% of its fanbase are lovely people, the very vocal 1% tend to ruin everything for everyone. “Doctor Who” viewers and fans of its spin-off, “Torchwood,” took a particular hatred to the death of Ianto Jones in the fourth episode of the series called “Children of Earth.” Many people personally attacked writer James Moran on his Twitter account, and others called the show’s writers homophobic, causing series creator Russell T Davies to call them out on their stupidity and toxic behavior. James Moran subsequently shut down his personal blog and never wrote for either show again.

Turns out, you can’t even draw your favorite characters without being viciously harassed online. In one particularly brutal instance, Tumblr user Zamii070 posted various drawings of her favorite “Steven Universe” characters. However, many people took issue with the drawings, with some calling them transphobic, racist, and fat-shaming. Zamii was viciously harassed for her drawings and eventually attempted suicide after posting what looked like a suicide note on Tumblr. Zamii luckily survived her suicide attempt and at least one of the bullies were arrested on charges of cyber stalking and cyber harassment.

Gamers have a particularly nasty reputation. While many are perfectly nice and welcoming, others unfortunately make the hobby look childish and toxic. In August 2014, independent video game developer Zoë Quinn became the subject of a particularly nasty blog post by her ex-boyfriend. This blog post eventually snowballed into the Gamergate controversy, a harassment campaign geared primarily against women in the field of gaming. The campaign was filled with false accusations, doxing, and many personal rape and death threats towards various women.



Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few dishonorable mentions.

“Breaking Bad” Fans Continuously Throw Pizza on ‘Walter White’s House’


“Once Upon a Time” Fans Called Ginnifer Goodwin Fat



Gamers Sent Threats to Jennifer Hepler’s Children

The harassment campaign against the “Ghostbusters” reboot is now legendary. The internet went into an immediate frenzy upon hearing that the reboot would contain an all-female cast, and countless misogynistic posts cropped up on social media. The trailers were then brigaded with downvotes, with many blaming it on a combination of sexism, racism, and fans holding a little too hard onto nostalgia. When the movie was released, some of its cast, particularly Leslie Jones, were the subjects of hate-filled, racist and sexist comments, prompting Jones to leave Twitter and Paul Feig to publicly call out the attackers.