The fact that they would threaten an innocent, newborn baby is sickening.

"Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it" - Mike Tyson

I feel like toxic and fan shouldn't be in the same sentence. If you're this toxic, you're not a fan...

Great example of why people should never make a fandom thier personality.

The fact that one "fan" sent her a DM detailing how they were going to murder her newborn son in front of her just so she could feel what it was like still makes my blood boil. Like dude. Don't even JOKE about that kind of shit. Don't even THINK about that kind of shit. If that's something that's crossed your mind even once, get some fucking help

Seeing Laura cry like that makes me angry at those children that are making this fandom toxic.

Here in Brazil the congress is making a legislation for those kind of things on the internet. Death threat is a crime and should be treated as one.

Crazy how people can't separate a game character from an actual person.

What’s wild is this whole “they aren’t playing their character correctly” discourse. Like bruh, THIS IS A FANTASY WORLD MADE UP IN OUR PRETEND BRAINS. We have half-elven, half-seahorse beings who can literally cast spells that turn gigantic demons into ferrets, but someone deciding they want to play a character their way is unacceptable and unbelievable? THAT’S the thing that destroys your enjoyment so much that you harass someone? Go outside, touch grass, and take a deep breath. It’s funny, maybe it’s just the millennial in me, but if I don’t like a store or restaurant, instead of putting them on blast online, I just don’t go back. I do the same thing with media, if I don’t enjoy it, I don’t watch it.

"Toxic fans need to remember that the people who make content are people with feelings." They do. That's the problem. They see feelings as exploitable weaknesses in a game of entitlement.

I was introduced to Critical Role by former friends who were so toxic and obsessed with everything the cast did. They really didn't understand a parasocial relationship, and how it's really unhealthy to center your life around people you've never met. For this reason, you'll never catch me saying I'm a 'fan' of Critical Role. I simply watch the show and enjoy the stories being told.

About a year or two ago, Matt Colville found out that a group of "fans" had become so obsessed with the lore of his game world that they were scraping all of his social media posts going back years for even miniscule scraps of info, & even delving into his personal life for possible hints. He was so shocked & outraged that he dumped a bunch of docs online, and held Q&A sessions on his Twitch channel to try to sate some of that unhealthy curiousity. I think he was concerned that some crazed "fan" would show up at the MCDM offices or his house. He cut way back on streaming for a while. No one should be treated like that, but especially not a creator you allegedly admire, and who so generously interacts with his fandom.

Travis: wait till they get a load of me...

God fandoms can be soo fuckin toxic bc ppl don’t know how to separate character from actor/person. It’s getting so annoying when ppl get mad over what an actor does as a character or etc. Man like what happened to Jocat was uncalled for, no one deserves death threats.

That is the dilemma of social media. It provides this wonderful opportunity for discourse and community communication. However, it also removes the personal portion of that communication. It allows those who would otherwise be shunned or rebuked for their behavior to have their voices heard without fear.

Small content creator here! I'm a casual gamer and have been told that I play games wrong. As of now, that's the worse I've gotten. It's amazing and terrifying how much people will nitpick at the things they see as "wrong" or "bad" - and some people don't know how to stop. Thank you for this video!!!

How in the Word can someone ever threaten a child’s life???

The CR fandom has been EXTREMELY toxic to a lot of guest stars Aabria being a prime example and now seeing them turn on the main cast itself isn't that shocking I think most of this hatred comes from those extreme nerds who think they know how to play DND better than anyone else and feel like they have some sort of God given right to dictate how others SHOULD play the game

I just never understand how people can get toxic over fictional characters. Now, I play D&D and I know what a character means to many people out there, don't get me wrong. But when you go far out to the point where bullying and death threats are involved over games and Characters is confusing to me. But yeah, I like this video because sometimes people needs a reminder. Great video, keep it up!

Its crazy how people can see someone's job and the work they do. And all they want to do is make them feel bad. We have lost the ability to take a step back and think how it would feel to be on the other end.

I love all the critical role they have helped me through a lot as an ex military service man I watch these guys to keep me grounded and not let my brain wonder and it embarsses me that people out there do stuff like this.

Actors should never be abused especially like this, they don't write the script or story and there are so many ways to show your dislike for a story and judging the actor for it is the worst possible way. Like arguing at the measuring cup for making the food wrong. Like wtf

The internet has given voice to extremes in all corners of society. I've always maintained that we were never meant to be exposed to so much of humanity. Our social networks have always been those we were in close proximity to, and now we have to deal with people we'd never have had contact with. This is a massive problem.

I don't understand why someone would be a CR fan and be upset that they are playing "Sub-Optimally". It's clearly a storytelling type of campaign, based on character arcs. Has been for the whole 8 years it's existed. There's no one way to play D&D. Optimal gaming isn't about making the numbers higher, it's about having fun. Now, for the type of player who loves those slightly higher numbers, I'm sure there's an online campaign out there that's full of Powergamers with OP Builds. And if there isn't, you should probably start one.

That really is scary. I honestly can’t imagine a scary threat than that you can’t help but take serious than one that threatens your children, especially when they are just babies. Regardless of the truth of it, I can say I would probably be looking over my shoulder after hearing or reading a threat like that. I wish Laura Bailey the best and genuinely hope she never has to hear another such threat. I know that last thing probably won’t happen but I seriously wish it to be so. 😢

I’m old school when it comes to this subject. “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all!”

I don’t know Laura Bailey, Never met her. But I’ve known of her since before Last of Us one. Her work is extremely extensive over a decade of work. And seeing her get shit for one role boils my blood.

I remember when all that crap went down. It was childish of people to do that. I saw the story of the game. I didnt personally care for it.. so what did i do? I didnt buy the game... and moved on with my life. We're allowed to not like something. We're not allow to spew hate and death threats about it.

Thank you so much for covering this and reminding everyone to be polite and compassionate!

As someone, who was pretty upset by how TLOU2 turned out. I never ONCE blamed the actors for their performance on the game. Even Abby, who I couldn't stand (She killed my favorite character.) I actually only just now learned Laura was the person who portrayed her. and that doesn't change my opinion about her in the least. To hear that she, and other actors recieved so many horrid messages is sickening. people who threaten the life of others, and their children, over stuff so trivial, have no place in a civilised society.

If your getting angry about how someone plays a character in a tabletop game it means you don't understand anything about tabletop games, also i miss JoCat

People telling you how you should be playing your DnD character is the most annoying thing in the world. To make threats over it is just pathetic

the internet was the best /worst invention.

I remember a few months ago, on one episode of 4-Sided Die. People in the comments were making unhinged speculations about whether one of the female cast members was pregnant because she was wearing baggy pants. It was one of the most parasocial, unhinged comment threads I've seen. These people need to log off and get some counseling

Thank you for making this video and pointing this out

This is the sad part. There are some fans that are completely incapable of separating the character from the actor.

Unbelievable that this is still happening and that laws haven't been passed to stop it, while maintaining our ability to comment freely and positively. It can't be that hard, can it?

I'm so sorry that they are experiencing this. Unfortunately, there are people who think threats, name calling, etc are acceptable. I try to leave comments to complement people and encourage them to combat the hate that I see, but I think that there will always be hate.

Damn, thanks for the context, was wondering about certain comments made on stream.

Can you guys link the documentary you are talking about from Naughty Dog or a link of where we can find it? Thanks!

It is so disturbing that people do these kind of things. Some people have no ability to separate reality and entertainment, or to respect boundaries. I don't think we socialize people well enough. Sad.

As someone who isn't from the US, it always bothers me when I see people going about free speech being such a great thing. Free speech is truly something needed. People need to be able to have a voice. But like with everything in life, exaggeration makes good things bad. What often happens is that people apply it unilaterally: they gang up on someone and say their piece. And even if the majority disagrees, it's not like we have a discord server where we all get together to organize raids responding to them. Free speech doesn't work without dialogue. It can't be one-sided, otherwise the loudest one always wins.

The way social media is shaping our society is absolutely gross. These people have done nothing wrong, they're not harming anybody, they're not spreading any hate or ill will on the world. Who in their right mind would find it appropriate to speak to them this way or treat them like this?! Astounding! It's so sad

Well said. Thank you for your great channel 👍

I love Laura Bailey. Anyone who hates on her because of a character she voiced has major issues. As for Ashley? I think Fearn is perfect and in my opinion her best character. I have my personal ideas about what I think about how they portrayed certain characters or even so much as to feel like they often bow to the inclusion gods just to keep the fandom from getting to rabid..but I will never resort to personal attacks on their persons and for anyone to make threats towards a child? There are no words for those types of people.

On the whole death threats thing. People have become so desensitized to using those words. Telling someone that they would hurt someone or worse or their families just because they worked on some media is sad but also scary how common its getting. I have seen people close their social media just because of opinions, for example a faceless instagram artist that used to draw characters from a franchise wasn't happy with a race swap of a character, because of that people tried to report her for false things and kept sending her messages from telling her she was wrong to calling her racist to people telling they would hurt her for her opinion, and some even found out personal info about her like where she lived which lead to her revealing some of the information about herself and that she was also black and people calling her a white supremacist were wrong. But she went away from many any posts for a long long time because of that. And heck I experienced myself when I made a comment on a post about a show where I said I dislike the path they took and it started with people calling me homophobic to telling me to jump off a building, and even one person told me they would "f***ing kill me if I don't shut my stupid mouth". But what I will never understand is the source of that hate. That you value a source of media so much that you would ignore the value of someone's life. Laura is an actor, she did her job playing a character, it is not her fault what the writers did. As for the writers, you can dislike their choices, heck you can hate them even, but wishing harm on them is just wrong. For example totally random but I really dislike Chris Chibnal as a writer for ruining Doctor Who, the guy managed to ruin a 50+ years ongoing franchise in a short amount of time because he wanted to rewrite the whole history of the show. I think he did an awful job, he managed to ruin the franchise beyond repair, I think he is an egomaniac and a jerk if you see his interviews about his choices why he did what he did and what he thought of the fans that disagreed with his views, but he doesn't deserve any harm to befall him. Heck I will also dislike any writer or director that ruins a franchise and then says stuff like "toxic male fans are the problem" or "the media has turned against us" when they made a bad product, but I will never wish harm on any of them, and nobody should either. And I heard people trying to defend those actions by saying things "oh well they didn't mean any of it" or "it is a big part of their personality so they felt personally attacked". But here is the thing, you can say that you really hated something without saying that you want to kill somebody. And the they didn't mean it or the they were just letting off steam doesn't work when people find out where you live and try to affect their personal lives. At the end of the day, you can dislike things, you can hate them, but don't turn that hate into boiling anger that makes you wish harm to someone, nobody deserves that, we are all living human beings at the end of the day, because even if the person you hate is shallow or mean, you are only wasting your own time at the end of the day.

Thanks f9r making this one. I hope it makes a difference. Peace and love to you and yours!

bloody hell threating to kill a kid all because a video game character she played killed a video game character what is this world coming too

People who can't separate an actor from a character need help.

This is so sad because these creators spread so much joy through their content. They put their whole minds and hearts into it and that's what makes the content enjoyable is the humanity in it. I agree 100% we should be respectful to everyone and that definitely includes people in the public eye because they're risking their career and spending their time and effort to give us entertainment. And it's such a disrespect to that. In the words of Sam Wilson Captain "we can do better"

that is crazy i so hope all of you are safe i enjoy all you do on d and d and all i don t know.

Big love to small content creators who put up with this shit, you are valued and you do you ❤ I'm a fan of a few things critical role included, but don't tend to post anything because of this. Heck, it's rare for me to post on comment sections on youtube. Toxic behaviour online has steered me away from aloy of things, good and bad.

It's a troubling trend on the rise.

it's as if people dont discern the actor from the role - Dicaprio playing a slaver didn't get backlash as big as Laura got for playing Abby - who by the way wasn't written to be irredeemable, quite the opposite actually... whilst mr Candy from Django is much so irredeemable....

I'll never understand how vile some people can be. And as long as there isn't any form of punishment for crap like that, it'll sadly only get worse.

The internet has become a festering echo chamber for extremes of quite literally everything you can imagine. People have become way too comfortable doing and saying thing that if they were to say in real life they would probably get punched. Social media has made people think that their opinion on everything is needed to be voiced. It isnt. Im relatively new to critical role and dnd, it’s a mammoth job to catch up with the campaigns but its just a delight to see good friends doing what they love together with characters that are interesting complex and flawed.

Anyone that sends death threats to anyone should sit in jail for a good bit, just my opinion...

I love Critical Role and they voiced quite a lot of my favorite characters in Anime growing up as a kid. Sam Reigal voiced original Tristian in Yugioh, Laura Bailey voiced kid Trunks in DBZ and Toru Honda in Fruits Basket. Love as people and their personalities are awesome. The jokes and realness of them is very apparent. I hope they continue and don't let the loud toxicity of a few ruin it for the many who enjoy them.

What also sucks is that the toxic ones are just a tiny group, but their insanity sticks out so much amongst the crowd, it makes the whole group look toxic. This is even worse for media that is controversial (or just bad), as any criticism is lumped in with the toxicity and the writers dig in their heels with their next project (and it always ends up worse). It's a cycle of toxic behavior. I hate when a small minority make things worse for everyone else.

It makes me so angry that the creators I love get hounded, hurt, and (or) driven off of KZfaq. I feel like I should do something to stop it but I literally can't. Glad and sad that I stumbled across this video lol +1 sub

Has the fandom of some of our favorite TTRPG Creators gotten out of control, or are some outliers ruining it for the rest of us? Let us know in the comments! Also view the full interview with Laura, Ashley, and the Last of Us 2 cast here! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ialjdpp4srPKdIk.html

There are some absolutely bat shit crazy people out there. The critter community has become worse and worse over the years

I dont understand why people threaten Laura for charackter she portraited. I despise Abby as a charackter, but to go to such lenght to threatend to end her own sons life is dispicable. If someone would do that to my daughters or wife, I would take so hard to court, they wished never been alive.

on the topic of being told how to play your character... I've had that in my own party! one player, in particular, has repeatedly tried to tell me to remove what I consider to be a key aspect of my character and choose something else instead.

Don't forget to love eachother

It really sucks that fandoms no matter how big or small there is always those individuals who ruin it like I'm no fan of last of us 2 but I don't threaten the va I just dislike the writers and not by sending death threats, I just don't play the game or comment saying I don't like x because reason and leave it at that wish more people did as well.

I am beyond saddened that anyone experiences this hatred and anger. There are such good supportive people out there. So many of us but we still get drowned out by vitriol. Much love to anyone and everyone out there!!

I met Laura and Travis at a con in 2010, and I am utterly disgusted how some people act. Laura Bailey is one of if not the sweetest individual I have ever met. She did not deserve threats at all.

Wait?!? Laura Bailey is the voice actor?!?!?! I feel bad now about how shitty that game was handled!

I never bothered to double check the word "fan" to see that it was short for "fanatic" until it was revealed to me by a Dr Who episode (Eccleston), 10+ years ago. Definitely changed my view of the word.

Thank you

I went to a live show and sat next to someone who didn’t think I should’ve been a fan in attendance. They made sure I was uncomfortable. They took the space that I was in by spreading their legs and had an exaggerated laugh to a scream in my ears. After sitting next to the guy for two and a half hours of screaming in my ears, I left. I’m sorry to say but Critical Role has a large number of fans that are unhinged. I’ve never been to a live show since. I don’t even watch their stream anymore. So when this link was shared with me, I had to watch.

I was aware of the death threats toward Laura Bailey because of The Last of Us part II, but I had no idea there were threats toward her son… Like…what the actual fuck, people? What. The. Fuck?! You…you don’t fucking go after people’s kids, y’all. Bad enough (and unconscionable enough, I should add) that you threaten the person, but their kids? Just…NO!!!

I miss JoCat... None of the people featured in this video deserved the hate they got...

I appreciate you making this...sadly the people who need to hear it either won't or don't care. Those toxic fans have mental health issues almost every time so they don't live in the same world as the rest of us.

Much Needed.

This should come as a Suprise to no one. The toxicity of the CR fanbase has been well documented

Dang this is brutal 😢

Great stuff. This can apply to any game. Not just TTRPGs.

I have up on campaign 3, but am looking to finish campaign 2 before the cartoon starts.

I really hate these selective spotlights on harassment and toxic behavior. Laura Bailey has been in support of ideology groups that have pushed down voices of people for an age now and ignored the harassment and deplatforming of certain people. Now I'm suppose to cry for her? Not a chance. I celebrate hypocrites getting what they support.

The problem lies in the term *"fan"* What else do you expect *fanatics* to do? How do you expect highly invested people (fanatics, a.k.a. fans) to act? You reap what you sow! Online personalities should make an effort to clarify, that they don't want anyone to consider themselves a fan of theirs. Yes, you'll make less money because of that. You will loose your most loyal customers. But I think it's a worthwhile trade-off if the alternative are death threats against your new born son... like... holy hell this is despicable!!!

Yup... whole damn thing is frustrating. It is sad so many trolls ruin things.

The entire Critical Role cast and all their guests are so lovely I honestly have a hard time imagining anyone being mean to them for any reason. People are awful.

I have heard people talk about how we "recently" have begun to idolize and over revere famous people. But, it has been happening, especially with story tellers, since the start of the Age of Man. In some Civilizations killing or hurting a Storyteller was a worse crime then killing a neighbor. It was how we learned news from afar, remembered out history, etc. If anything, I think it has flipped over the last 20-50 years where we almost enshrine a story instead of the Storyteller. So much so, that if the Storyteller changes a story, or doesn't tell it the way you want it to be told, they become the enemy. I am tired and not as articulate as I would like, but I hope the point comes across all the same. I, personally, thank the Storytellers and enjoyed my short time as one in years of school theater and as a public speaker.

Im just gonna say it. We dont need interaction on all entertainment media. Its been a really bad change to society.

Where (the hell!) is this world going to? We need to stop the hatred and threats! Cancel hate!

And people wonder why i say we should have some gatekeeping.....

Tbh I am surprised it is Ashley people are trying to send advice to because I generally cannot think of another character/player who has been able to pull off a chaotic neutral character in a long campaign better that Ashley has.

I haven't had access to TLOUS Pt 2 but obviously I remember all the controversy around Abby / Joel. I knew that Laura got a lot of flak over it, but I never knew that people were reaching out to threaten her child. I am all about people being afforded as much privacy as possible, but at some point we've got to do something about VPNs and the ability to do this kind of shit with real anonymity. If you're going to threaten someone, even online, it needs to be a felony. There's got to be some kind of deterrence or it's just going to keep happening.

Ive been involved in SciFi fandom since 1986. There have always been toxic, horrible people - however when it was face to face - there were people who could and more importantly WOULD shut it down fast. My attitude has always been if you wouldnt say it to someones face dont say it at all. There are too many people who forget that.

Honestly had no idea that Laura got so much hate for her character. I always thought it was towards the character and writers.

How did I not know that was Laura Bailey?!

stuff like this makes me wish there were systems in place to make stuff like accountability for the things you do or say online an actual thing. too many trolls and bottom feeders out there jumping at the chance to spread misery just cause they can and know they most likely wont see any consequences for it.

This is insane!!!! The fact that people take their "fandom" so seriously to the point where they feel entitled enough to say extremely hurtful, negative or cruel things. I speak up every time a "fan" claims it's "business" and their "entertainers" are expected to take feedback from their viewers. What is wrong with this commercialized society? Have you completely forgotten that we are all humans underneath the hobbies & interests?? Did you forget that the real world exists outside of a video game/TV show? This world and the everyday people are very weird. I hope everyone stays safe, and those matrix-induced maniacs wake up. 💛🙏🏻🕊️ Safety to everyone

I havent played Last of Us 2, can someone sum up what the beef was about with Laura Bailey in particular?

It's really sad that nowadays there always has to be reminders that the people they watch, leave a comment to, are real people. That shouldn't be a thing we have to remind but here we are with these maniac's bullying and even threatening lives over absolutely nothing. People need to reconnect with reality again and ask themselves if they'd behave like this to anyone on the street, and if they don't then they need to switch up that behavior and treat the internet like they're walking in a diner or down a street. They need to stop thinking that the internet is full of fake people when it's all real, and everything we use is just another way to communicate with others. Every action we make online matters just as much as what we do outside of the screen.

nobody should have to deal with threats like that. it's infuriating.

This is heartbreaking

Watching Laura Bailey cry just makes me feel so bad