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…
Listen, I will be the first one to jump on Georgia’s case when she does some wack shit–I mean, did she really need to respond to this person’s tweet, no– but I think the tone in Georgia’s tweet isn’t as pointed as y’all are making it out to be. If David really is apart of the 60th anniversary special for Doctor Who, no one is allowed to say anything about it until it’s announced, obviously. This could have just been Georgia’s (somewhat poorly executed) way of throwing suspicion off of David because the cast hasn’t been announced yet and I know they try really hard to keep stuff from leaking.
I think the people to blame here are the fans because everyone sees an inch and thinks they have the credit to take a mile instead. There was no need to be so hateful to that woman, regardless of what Georgia said. I don’t really think there was a problem with the way Georgia worded the tweet, but that’s just me. And like I said, I’d be the first one on her case if she did something out of line but honestly, I think the fans are the ones that need to step back and analyze their own behavior and answer to why they thought they could gaslight and be hateful to her when they weren’t with this woman and saw what she saw.
It’s just wild to me watching this unfold because we all know the anniversary is coming up, we all know there’s a really good chance David is going to be apart of it, we all know that information isn’t allowed to shared until it’s been made public; this is day one stuff. I’m like brand new to Doctor Who and even I know that. I know that not everyone is a fan of Doctor Who and so maybe the fans that were jumping down her throat didn’t know what was going on but I mean, the rumors have been circulating for a while about David’s appearance in the special, so unless you’re living under a rock, there’s no way fans haven’t heard it, even if they don’t watch Doctor Who.
So, yeah, the whole thing could have been avoided had Georgia just not said anything (Or even better really, if the woman had not said anything but I understand she was excited and she deserves to share her excitement) but I think the real question we need to ask is why is everyone being so fucking hateful and gaslighting this woman? We’re putting all the attention on Georgia’s tweet when what we really need to be focusing on is why we’re letting “fans” treat other fans like this… Anyways, that’s me ✌
I think we’re basically saying the same thing, and I agree wholeheartedly with what you’ve written here.
My reason for putting the attention on Georgia’s tweet is that her tweeting that was the whole catalyst for what followed. The reason fans felt like they could be so hateful and gaslight-y to this woman is because Georgia contradicted her, and played into the assumption fans were already naturally making, which is, “Georgia is David’s wife, she knows more about him than some Internet rando, therefore Internet rando is lying.” Many of these fans would have attacked this woman anyway (which, as you said, is a huge problem all by itself and absolutely does need to be addressed), but Georgia’s QT empowered these people further because it made them believe the person they look up to is on their side.
From what I have seen (with this being the latest instance), Georgia has passively let the fans think that on multiple occasions, because she does not say anything to the contrary. This is also something I have seen in other fandoms, where the celebrity (or celebrity-adjacent) person lets the fans do their dirty work for them. Georgia didn’t need to make her tweet sound pointed because the fans were all-too-happy to say the unspoken part out loud.
Again, do I think the fans need to be called out for their abusive and nasty behavior and told how unacceptable it is? Absolutely. Do I think these fans would have done this without Georgia saying anything? Probably. But the opportunity for them to do it would’ve been dramatically decreased if Georgia hadn’t drawn attention to that tweet in the first place.
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…
