‘The Boys’ To ‘The Rings Of Power:’ Everyone Is Tired Of Toxic Fans

When the entertainment industry finally started to embrace diversity and representation, the shift awakened something ugly, lurking inside fantasy and sci-fi fandoms.

The ugliness was on display following Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but the 2016 all-female Ghostbusters reboot sticks out as a flashpoint, in which the surge of rabid misogyny and racism was difficult to separate from legitimate criticism.

Landing a role in Star Wars should be a high point for any young actor, but Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran were both bullied off social media after being targeted by hateful “fans.” John Boyega, who was subjected to racist abuse, was refreshingly candid about his own experience, publicly criticizing Disney for contributing to the problem by pushing non-white actors “to the side.”

While the culture wars aren’t exactly new (the derogatory term “Mary Sue” was coined back in the 70’s), they have definitely escalated, to an absurd degree. There’s a thriving industry on YouTube of “anti-woke” commentators, churning out low-effort videos that display zero media literacy, criticizing perceived “wokeness” in media (mostly meaning diverse casting).

For example, the most recent Predator movie, Prey, was torn apart by these commentators before it was even released, simply because the heroic protagonist (Amber Midthunder) was female, and the story revolved around a tribe of Native Americans.

Such commentators appeared genuinely disappointed when the film was well-received by fans – being obsessively “anti-woke” is a sad, bitter existence, it seems.

But the toxic tidal wave finally seems to be receding, as showrunners, writers and actors appear far more comfortable speaking out against bigotry, telling the toxic fringe of their fanbase that they are no longer welcome.

Much of the hype around Amazon’s The Rings of Power has been overshadowed by bigoted Tolkien fans, angered at the diverse casting, prompting the actors of the show to speak out, even joined by the actors from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, who also spoke out against racist commentary.

In response to a misogynistic hate campaign against actor Erin Moriarty, The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke didn’t mince his words, telling bigoted fans to “f**k off to the sun” and stop watching the show.

Extraordinarily, the toxic fringe of The Boys fandom don’t seem to understand that the show is mocking far-right culture warriors, despite the satire having the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Again, media literacy is not their strength.

The same thing happened with the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, as actor Moses Ingram posted examples on Instagram of the racist abuse she’d been subjected to on social media. As a show of support, Ewan McGregor released a video condemning the racist backlash, calling out the toxic fringe of the fanbase.

The cycle repeated itself with the release of Netflix’s The Sandman, with racist and sexist backlash to the casting choices. This one was especially baffling, as anyone familiar with the source material understands that several of the supernatural entities don’t actually have a fixed race or gender, and can shift identity at will.

Neil Gaiman, author of the original comic, didn’t have the patience for the bad-faith criticism, and expressed his frustration on Twitter.

Frankly, just about everyone who is involved in media production, or enjoys engaging with media criticism, seems sick and tired of battling trolls, bigots and bad-faith critics.

After all, there are plenty of legitimate criticisms to make about these shows that don’t involve the word “woke.”