Bitch boy just released a vlog where he spends 48 minutes sitting in his car whining about all the haters. I got through maybe 8 minutes and was done with his moaning and complaining.
It seems he learned the hard way that being a celebrity isn't always as glamorous as it seems. Just being well-known and recognized will bring with it some adulation but also detractors as well. He talked about how he handled the criticism and how his method of engaging was fruitless or even exacerbated the issue (Some online trolls just want to see that negative reaction out of their targets) and how he eventually changed his tactic to ignoring them.
Either end of the stan/troll spectrum can become toxic, and it's wise to be incredibly diligent with regard to the personal information that you make public. He has made available his full real name, talked about the town he lives in, mentioned family member names, shown the car he drives, and given away more personally identifiable information that could be used for nefarious purposes. That certainly doesn't excuse people sending threatening letters to him and his family or calling and harassing his place of work, but his making that information available made it much easier to do so. I totally understand, for example, his daughter's decision to stop appearing in videos. It's not that she's bored of Ripley's -- it's that she's aware of the weirdos that are out there and wants to minimize her exposure to them.
Anyone who wants to get into a creative field should understand that no everyone will like what you do, and those who don't can range from annoying to downright dangerous.
It's a numbers game really. Even if only 1% of people know about you, that's still
millions of people.
Even if you're so well-loved that 99% of people who've heard of you really like you, that still leaves
thousands who don't.
And of that fraction who doesn't like you, even if only 1% are crazy enough (
a BIG underestimate considering a Google search told me that 1 in 5 Americans will experience a mental health issue in a given year) to do something like stalking or harassment, that works out to
hundreds of people.
That kind of math makes me want to double check all the privacy settings on my social media accounts and to reaffirm my decision to never pursue becoming famous.