There is seemingly no reprieve from the online vitriol that social media is willing to sling at its users. Now even some of the most beloved actors of our time are not safe.
It all started with one X user’s hot takes on the popular actors of the day. @imnotpopbase decided to categorize working actors by their looks and offer a thesis that is controversial at best.
The mean-spirited post argued that actors such as Jensen Ackles and Hugh Jackman were only considered attractive because of their whiteness. Ranking people based on attractiveness seems like a hateful relic from Mark Zuckerberg’s FaceMash days of the early aughts. And in addition to not being topical, it is also objectively incorrect. Many people on social media wasted no time rushing to correct the slight against these well-regarded professionals.
Social media defended Ackles and Jackman
Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder, but some things are just factual. You can tell that users spreading vicious rhetoric such as this were not in the Supernatural trenches of the 2000s. Ackles was a highly sought-after actor of his time, being one half of the duo that kept a franchise going for a decade and a half. And Jackman similarly needs no defense. Not when he is the cultural icon behind the cigar-smoking ball of fury. However, they weren’t the only targets. One of the other outliers on the photographic is, of course, Drake. Many commenters pointed out that he didn’t exactly fit in with the others on the list.
This posting could be ragebait, as one user noted, but Drake’s placement could have other implications. Some savvy commenters referred to as much when responding to the post.
These comments likely have to do with the Drake and Kendrick Lamar discourse that has been overwhelming the pop culture cycle. Lamar has noted that Drake benefits from his racial identity in a way that others can’t. It’s possible this user was using this post as a tongue-in-cheek way to address that he is privileged because of being biracial.
Other actors that made the list are unequivocal superstars such as Timothée Chalamet, Jeremy Allen White, Jacob Elordi, and Ryan Reynolds. These actors don’t seem to require an army, but principled social media users reacted nonetheless.
Ackles categorically wins the award of man who is most defended. It’s hard to disagree that he is the actor on the list that most adheres to traditional standards of beauty. And since Supernatural has ended, he has only gotten more popular. His brief stint as the villainous Soldier Boy in The Boys has earned him his own spin-off entitled Vought Rising.
But of course, this kind of backlash is exactly what users like @imnotpopbase want, which was noted by many commenters. This type of rhetoric is used to inspire discourse and add more attention to the user’s profile. It is what bored people set their sights on when they have nothing better to do. Regardless, it is high time that society dispenses with cruel debates that have only been exacerbated by the cesspool that is X. In the meantime, internet trolls should try to enjoy something for a change and maybe get reacquainted with the Supernatural pantheon.