So the Robert Manion situation.
I’m not going to get into exactly what happened here because it could be triggering to people and I don’t want to explain it wrong by accident, but it’s on Robert’s Instagram story. If you don’t have Instagram, it’s basically all over the tag for him on tumblr as well. Im feeling a lot of things that I don’t really want to unpack right now, and I honestly don’t know how to proceed in this fandom, so all I can offer here are a few PSAs. A lot of this is just kind of parroting what I’ve heard around the fandom, and if you think I said anything wrong here, you can absolutely let me know and I will do my best to fix it.
This goes without saying, but don’t defend what he did. It was shitty and wrong. I can 100% understand the want to hope for the best, but there’s no sugarcoating this.
You might have complicated feelings and that’s ok. Other people might feel differently and that’s ok too.
That being said, this isn’t really about you, or me, or anyone except the people directly involved. Nobody owes us, as a fandom, anything. These are people who most of us don’t know personally, and it’s none of our business except for what people decide to share.
I know everyone else has said this, but do not under any circumstances bother other Starkids and Starkid-adjacent folks about this, ESPECIALLY the person Robert tagged. Like I said before, this is not our business and nobody owes us shit.
Also, don’t bother fellow fans to talk about it if they haven’t or don’t want to. It’s a VERY sensitive thing and I can understand why it would make people uncomfortable.
Don’t speculate. I’ve seen a lot of posts talking about why they think Robert came forward now, or why the person hasn’t talked about it, and while I know you have good intentions, this isn’t some fucking hexagon puzzle. These aren’t characters in a musical. These are real people who are online and could potentially see this.
Speaking of characters, if you still like Ethan or hidgens or whoever, you’re not bad for liking them. They aren’t Robert, even if they were played by him.
You’re also not bad for having liked Robert in the past. You couldn’t have known about it. Still, though, do be aware of your personal biases when posting about it. I, for one, really did like him and look up to him, especially as a bi person and an aspiring actor, and I know that that could affect the way I think about this.
If you didn’t like Robert in the past that’s all well and good, but for the love of god, please don’t post shit about “well I always got a bad vibe blah blah blah.” You’re not better than people who were fans of him just because you weren’t. This isn’t your chance to morally one-up other people.
If you’re talking about what happened in detail, please make sure to use proper tags. If you’re not sure if/how to tag something, you can always put an “ask to tag.”
Just…be kind to each other, please. We don’t know the full story, we don’t know what Team Starkid is going to do, if Robert is going to be in nightmare time or future projects, and the only actions we can control are our own. Just do what you can to support the people who need it, step back if you need tp, and remember that there are real, human people seeing what you post.