forever a fangirl

Where did the picture come from?

The photo could be linked back to a publicly accessible VSCO (photo editor) account of a private citizen from Hudson's hometown that was linked to her bio on her instagram account. She had no other pictures of Hudson on her vsco, so presumably not a close friend, but rather a more distant school mate. She was one of the girls on the controversial photo. It is unlikely that she leaked the picture. Most likely it was found by a group of stalkers who combed through all of the publicly accessible posts/photos of people in Hudson's school and hometown to look for dirt. Either she was alerted quickly to the circulation of the picture or Hudson's PR team reached out, because the picture was deleted within a few hours. By today (9 June), the entire VSCO was unlinked from the profile.

Who spread the picture?

Anonymous accounts on X spread the picture, publicly boasting that their aim was to end Hudson's career and push him to self-harm. Burner accounts also appeared to other apps, including Tumblr, where these accounts published the picture to spread it in the tags. In a few hours, the picture broke containment and was published

Why did they do this?

This was a fairly blatant organized attack against Hudson to try to harm his career and mental health. Some anonymous accounts even wished him lethal self harm. Another group called for his removal from Heated Rivarly and demanded Shane to be recast. The endgame of the group is not clear - likely the goal was to taint his public image. Since there are many inf;uential Jewish people in the film industry, a controversy like this can have an impact on his career long term.

Did Hudson make any statements?

No, neither Hudson, nor his team released any official statements as of writing this. "An anonymous friend / sources close to Hudson" (likely someone from the PR team) provided the following quote:

Do we know if it is the truth?

From the context, it is very likely that this statement is the truth: 1. it was doodled by someone else (the placement high in his forehead would make it hard to draw it on himself) and 2. Hudson did not know what was on his face until the next morning (high on his forehead he can't see it, unless there were mirrors at the campout). He probably also had no idea of that picture existing.

It's also possible that if it was a prank, nobody told him what was on his face.

Could there be other explanations?

Sure. It's possible that it was a dare, a lost bet, a punishment game, a prank with Hudson's knowledge or even a hate crime against him. In previous interviews Hudson did talk about how trying to fit in as a teenager was hard. Other POCs living in white majority rural areas shared their experiences of the pressure of having to accept racist jokes to try to fit in. But so far, there is no evidence whatsoever that the source in TMZ is lying.

I heard there was "AIDS" written on him?

There is a writing on his neck that could spell "AIDS" - it's not clear from the picture. Other teens pictures that resurfaced from the same party did have "AIDS" written on them. Some people speculate that it could simply be a nickname for Aidan, as most of the doodles are kids' names. Again, no context, if there was any kind of homophobic intent, or if Hudson even knew it. It's another doodle that's in a place he can't see.

I heard he had a second picture the following year with the same symbol?

False. The following year has a picture of Hudson with only a cross on his forehead, and with the caption "The nicest person ever".

What about the pool picture?

The pool picture of a group of teenagers including Hudson was published as "evidence" that Hudson did have white friends, presumably to refute the narrative that the symbol could have been bullying or hate crime against him. Of course, having a picture with friends is not proof that someone was never bullied. The two things can easily coexist, and these were clearly different events and different groups of peers. Also, please don't post half naked pictures taken from private accounts.

Did Crave, the Heated Rivalry crew /cast or sponsors make any statements?

No. There are no statements of support or condemnation. The Canadian Screen Awards posted a new video of him giving his speech to Sophie's award on Instagram. This could be taken as a small show of support.

But didn't Peloton pull his ads?

Peloton made his ad private, likely due to the contract length and not as a specific response to this incident.

Is there any indication that Hudson is or ever was a Nazi?

Duh. No. Even the accounts spreading the pictures don't believe that. Hudson is on record defending all kinds of minority groups and having left-leaning politics from well before he was cast in Heated Rivarly. The anti accounts also don't argue on his beliefs, an argument they would lose, but rather gaslight Hudson fans that they are bad people for "excusing" him.

He's a grown man. He should have known better. Why should we afford him any grace?

There is a rule in law called "innocent until proven guilty", because we as a society believe that it is more harmful to the overall good to hurt an innocent person, than maybe let a guilty person "get away with something". Sadly, in the public opinion, this rarely works. Rumours spread faster than facts, reputational damage can be done quickly. This is the mass psychology that this stalker group exploits.

I leave this write-up here, because I believe this is an issue we need to focus on more:

THIS IS A HATE CAMPAIGN.

There is no evidence that Hudson Williams has done anything wrong and in fact, very well could have been an actual victim of bullying or a hate crime at the time that picture was taken. In the present, he is very clearly a victim of a targeted hate campaign. Of course, basic human decency requires that we stand with someone being subjected to organized online violence, where the goal is simply to destroy his reputation.

Are there any good sources out there?

Paris Match article

Queerty article

What can I do?