There’s more. Unfortunately. Is he having a breakdown? Concerns about aging? What is going on?
Hi @guineahenfritillaria. Thank you for sending along this screenshot. I did see this new reply (which comes just on the heels of the previous one), and I honestly had a similar response to you, wondering whether Michael is having some sort of nervous breakdown.
As I mentioned earlier, Michael has responded to people in this way in the past, so this is not entirely out of character for him. The "goodbye" thing (or variations thereof) is also something he has used on other occasions. That said, the abrupt tone and drastic shift from sharing GO 3 behind the scenes pictures to attacking and insulting fans (especially after literal months of radio silence) is incredibly concerning, for a myriad of reasons.
I've also now seen some folks now saying that they believe Michael's account could have been hacked, due to some of the accounts that he is following (specifically, MAGA-oriented accounts and porn accounts). I am not certain if there is any way to confirm this, however, and I think it also bears mentioning that those accounts themselves could've been hacked/might have been something else entirely when Michael first followed them. The hacked theory could potentially make sense insofar as Michael has been trying (not always successfully, given his and Anna's disastrous--in the eyes of the wider public, not the fandom--recent appearance on Gogglebox) to generate positive PR ahead of his numerous projects that are soon to release (the Buried documentary, him starring on Celebrity Traitors, and hosting House of Games), so it would not make sense for him to destroy whatever public goodwill he has previously engendered.
But whether Michael was hacked or not, these responses are not okay. There should not be any need to wait to find out if he was hacked before taking a stand against this type of behavior, and yet many folks seem to be doing exactly this.
As I have tried to process this over the last few hours, I am finding myself just as perturbed (if not more so) at the people encouraging Michael's behavior and even justifying it. This is another repeating pattern where fans cheer on horrendous behavior as long as it's aimed at someone else/someone they don't like. I saw this happen late last year, even as misinformation ran rampant and uninvolved parties were wrongly targeted, and it's only gotten worse since the finale.
To put it very simply: Overlooking, ignoring, and enabling a celebrity's bad behavior does not make you a better fan than those who are willing to call it out. Acting like this is normal and even acceptable does not make you a better fan than those who refuse to do so. And if Michael is willing to do this to the people you don't like, there is nothing stopping him from doing the same thing to you.
As for what is happening...I'm honestly at a loss. If it is Michael, I'm disappointed, angry, and confused, but I still hope that he is okay. I hope that whatever is going on abates and he comes back to his senses. But I am not and cannot be okay with someone running dick first into a hurting fandom and deciding to somehow make things worse, even if unintentionally.
I expect better from him, as an actor and as a human being. We all should...
