#even though we know he is so lovely and sweet
So for those who might have missed it, yesterday there was a bit of a kerfluffle on Twitter involving David. Several people–food service workers and fans–reported seeing David in Cardiff, which may or may not be related to the filming of the Doctor Who60th anniversary special. One person in particular who tweeted about spotting David was a fan named Christine, who wrote the below tweet, which was then QTed by Georgia:
Almost immediately, fans on Twitter jumped all over it and accused this woman of lying. Without any hesitation or critical thinking of any kind, people in the DW fandom subjected her to vicious harassment and bullying and death threats (why?!), all because of being singled out by Georgia:
There are three distinct possibilities here that absolutely no one seemed to remotely consider before attacking this woman for no reason: 1) That she was just simply mistaken and not maliciously engaging in fabrication; 2) That this woman was actually telling the truth; or 3) That Georgia was the one lying, to create an alibi/cover for David.
Why and how some fans find it inconceivable that Georgia could be the one lying is beyond me, especially when it is entirely within the realm of possibility that he was filming in Cardiff and it was meant to be a secret. If that is the case and Georgia was trying to avoid confirming his presence in Cardiff, I completely understand. But this could have been handled radicallydifferently, and she did not need to draw attention to this woman’s tweet.
Why not post a screenshot with the name blurred out, or vague tweet something like “Apparently David is manifesting copies of himself in other places. Bit odd, because he just picked up the kids this afternoon…”? Or why not ignore the tweet altogether? Instead, whether she meant to or not, Georgia made this fan out to be a liar and set her up for abuse from the fandom, and that is unacceptable.
By all accounts, there is nothing that suggests this woman was a crazed stan or a confabulist, but what she was (and hopefully still is, despite all this) is a fan of David Tennant. David does not have a presence on social media, but is represented by Georgia, who does. So this woman would be hard-pressed not to believe that Georgia speaks for David in this case, and as a fan, I can think of few things that would be more upsetting than to think someone you admire is making fun of you and sanctioning others to do the same.
I have seen this happen in other fandoms before, which is why it was so frustrating to see it happen again yesterday. When someone who has power and a platform uses both to single out someone who has neither, this is exactly the result, and at best, it’s distasteful, but at worst, it (understandably) drives people out of fandoms for good.
I have no doubt Georgia has dealt with her share of crazy fans of David’s in the past, but it’s for that very reason (and all of the reasons above) that I believe she should’ve known better…
