Actor Joshua Malina, of The West Wing – and most recently, Scandal – fame, is, in many people’s opinion, a douchebag on Twitter. Quite an amusing douchebag, but nevertheless a douchebag.
But although he constantly mocks his adoring fanbase, people continue to try to interact with him. It’s like they can’t stop themselves.
Recently, one fan wrote (sic): “@joshmalina I think your adorable & funny…no offense”, to which he replied – much to the delight of my inner grammar pedant: “My adorable & funny…no offense what?!”. The conversation continued. She got upset. He got sarkier. She eventually declared herself to no longer be a fan.
Well, careful what you wish for. You interacted with someone who you believed to be adorable and funny and expected a matching response. But on what grounds? His character, Will, in The West Wing, WAS adorable and funny. A little pompous, perhaps, but oh-so-adorable. David Rosen in Scandal, less so. But surprise! Joshua Malina is neither of these people.
It turned out that the real-life Malina actually has a wicked sense of humour and a sharp tongue. Who knew? Well, his family probably did. And his close friends. Maybe even people who’ve met him once or twice.
But for you to assume a friendly response from someone you have never met?
Naive at best. If you want to break past the celebrity veneer and treat them like ordinary people, then fine. In fact, great: perhaps then, everyone will stop getting so excited that someone who writes books once ate a cucumber and drank beer at the same time. But you may not like what you find. Celebrities sometimes say amusing things; they are sometimes boring. They are neither fictional, carefully crafted-characters, nor infallible human beings. So treat them as such. And please stop encouraging them to make crap jokes.
scandalfix.com 