Charlie Puth took to social media on Sunday (July 5) to share his unfiltered thoughts on the toxicity of stan culture between pop stars’ fan bases.
“I don’t usually pay any mind to things like this, but something has to be said. This dangerous, toxic, internet screaming match between ‘fandoms’ has to stop,” he began in a series of thoughtful tweets. “I’m 28 years old, so it doesn’t really mean anything to me when some person I don’t know writes a nasty message to me saying things like ‘I used BTS for clout.’ I don’t know what that means- I love those guys and they are super talented.”
The singer’s reference to BTS comes after fans of the K-pop boy band accused him of trying to piggyback off the group’s popularity for his own gain on Twitter, as well as trolling the comments of several of his videos on TikTok.
While the controversy seemingly came out of nowhere, it may stem from a radio interview Puth gave back in 2018, in which he expressed an interest in collaborating with the boy band and admired their passionate fanbase, known as A.R.M.Y. He later performed a duet of his 2016 single “We Don’t Talk Anymore” with BTS member Jungkook at the 2018 MBC Plus X Genie Music Awards.
“But what I do know is that 10 years ago, language like this directed towards me would’ve affected me deeply in a very negative way. And I’m thinking about all the other younger kids on twitter seeing stuff like this on a daily basis,” Puth continued in his thread of tweets before concluding with a plea for more kindness and decency in fans’ online discourse around, and towards, their favorite artists.
“It may sound cliche, but please be nicer to each other on here. No more screaming about made up nonsense. It does nobody any good,” he said. “We all need to love each other MORE THAN EVER RIGHT NOW.”
Puth’s call for ending stan wars also arrives on the heels of his latest single, “Girlfriend.” The summer-ready bop marks the singer’s first release of 2020, following a series of one-off singles throughout 2019 including “Mother,” “I Warned Myself” and “Cheating On You.”
Check out Puth’s call-out of stan culture below.
