There are those who close their social media accounts, those who move to a ranch away from prying eyes, and those who decide to address the issue. Online hate towards celebrities is certainly nothing new, but recently, some artists have decided to talk about it openly in an effort to stem the emotional and physical damage.
Robert Viglasky/Netflix
Such is the case with actor Barry Keoghan, who recently described the daily pressures he faces in an appearance on SiriusXM. “There’s a lot of hate online,” Keoghan said. “There’s a lot of abuse of how I look.” While some of his fans are lovely, he noted, it was the gratuitousness of the attacks he is subjected to that hurt him.
The 33-year-old Irishman, who just landed on Netflix with Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, boasts a multifaceted career that will soon see him play the Joker in The Batman 2 alongside Robert Pattinson, and then Ringo Starr in a series of Beatles biopics alongside Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn, and Harris Dickinson. Still, there is a segment of his reception that he calls “nasty.”
One of the reasons he is severely challenged by those detractors, he said, is the idea that Brando, his three-year-old son with ex-girlfriend Alyson Sandro, “has to read all of this stuff when he gets older.”
Courtesy of Prime
In the face of the backlash, Keoghan has not only avoided online comments and social media—he deactivated his Instagram in 2024—but also tried not to be seen at all.
“It’s made me really go inside myself, not want to attend places, not want to go outside,” Keoghan said. “It’s becoming a problem.” When he does attend an event, the actor noted, it makes him tempted to see how his appearance was received. He’s now “hiding away” in spite of the risks he’s taken in his work, including his appearance in the divisive Emerald Fennell film Saltburn alongside Jacob Elordi, and the critical acclaim he’s received for his performances.
Keoghan is not the only actor who has recently weighed in on the toxicity of fandom. Just this month, two actors in the HBO Max phenomenon Heated Rivalry, Hudson Williams and François Arnaud, released statements on Instagram condemning homophobic and discriminatory comments of all kinds, declaring themselves fed up with the hate they have faced.
Originally published in Vanity Fair Italia.
