The music industry has a long history of passionate fanbases, but sometimes that enthusiasm can curdle into toxicity. From harassment and bullying to online trolling, concert violence, or outright bigotry, some fandoms have developed a dark side that can be just as harmful as they are devoted.
From Swifties to Directioners to the infamous ARMY’s, these five fandoms have actively defended their artists to death, often taking things to darker extents. Here are five fandoms that have developed a reputation for being toxic and why.
Kanye West
Rapper Kanye West has been known to have one of the most toxic fandoms in the rap industry. His fans’ devotion has molded itself into a cult-like mentality where they do not allow any individual to dissect or criticize any of his music. His fans have often been a part of harassing and bullying other artists or celebrities that he doesn’t have the best of relations with — such as Taylor Swift, or his ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
Most of his fans also are a part of severe social media bullying and align with West’s ideology of putting himself on a pedestal despite any wrongdoings. Kanye has also been criticized for the misogynistic and sexist themes in his songs and public remarks. His fans, however, have never held him accountable for these actions and have even encouraged and been a part of his brand of anti-Semitism.
Selena Gomez
As Selena Gomez herself has said once, “If you mess with me, my fans will come for you,” the pop star’s fans have often created one-sided drama that ends up creating more controversies for Gomez. Most of these are related to her long on-and-off relationship with Justin Bieber, resulting in many fans continuously making Hailey Bieber a subject of bullying and calling her out for allegedly stealing Bieber from Gomez.
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Although both the women, with more emphasis on Gomez, have often urged fans to not indulge in harassment of any kind, the toxicity is never-ending. Gomez’s fans often rush to harass celebrities like Bella Hadid, Kylie Jenner, and even her own boyfriend Benny Blanco.
Taylor Swift
If there’s any artist in the industry who holds the power to influence, move, and control a fandom that consists of billions, it’s definitely Taylor Swift. The pop icon is known for having one of the biggest and most devoted fanbases in the industry — a devotion that oftentimes turns deadly for people associated with Swift.
Swifties have a reputation for bullying all of Swift’s ex-boyfriends with intense social media hate trains, death threats, and mean posts. This bullying sometimes also spills onto people she is close to, with one of the recent hits going towards Sabrina Carpenter, who worked with Kim Kardashian.
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Moreover, Swifties are known to have blind devotion towards Swift, and will not tolerate any form of criticism or hate towards her. This has led to the fandom being perceived as a cult and is often regarded as one of the most toxic fandoms in the industry.
One Direction
Although the band has now gone their separate ways, One Direction’s active years saw one of of the biggest fandoms in the world as the band rose to fame. Beneath all that cutesy fan behaviour, however, it didn’t take long for it to turn bitter.
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The band’s fans, also known as Directioners, mostly consisted of young women who were obsessed with the five members. Certain disturbing incidents include stalking, invading the members’ privacy, and obsessively shipping Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson together — something both the stars has often spoken up about and denied.
Furthermore, anyone they dated went through immense scrutiny as fans continued to indulge in online harassment of anyone they were romantically linked with.
BTS
Kpop fandoms are often known to be some of the most toxic fandoms in the world and BTS’ fans, known as the ARMYs, top this list. The parasocial relationship fans have with the band has often turned out to be something more than just problematic.
The extreme defensiveness that ARMYs have toward the group is one of the main problems in the fandom. Fans have often indulged in harassing other fellow artists online, while also openly cyberbullying any critics or artists who make statements about them. As one of the largest fandoms in the world, this defensiveness often takes the shape of something darker.
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It has created a hostile climate that goes against the fundamental ideals of love and unity that BTS promotes, not to add that it creates a bad reputation for ARMYs and alienates potential new fans. Many fans have also consistently engaged in disturbing theories about the members being queer and being sexually involved with one another.
