Trigger warning: Suicide
Mental health isn’t a joke—we should all know that by now. Earlier this week, rapper CupcakKe topped Twitter trends after tweeting about taking her own life. She also posted a similar note on Instagram. This prompted her friends and fans to contact authorities to check on her, as well as send her encouraging messages in this dark time.
Comedian Elijah Daniel updated everyone that he’d contacted the Chicago Police Department to go to his friend. The police told BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat that CupcakKe was okay and that she was taken to the hospital for a mental evaluation. No injuries were found on her body.
As of writing, CupcakKe assured everyone that she’s safe and getting the help she needs. In fact, she just released a new song titled “Squidward Nose.”
On the other side, netizens were disappointed at some K-pop fans who didn’t take CupcakKe’s suicide scare seriously. Many of them took the opportunity to endorse their idols under the rapper’s initial post. The tweets mostly had this format: “Why kill yourself when you can stan [K-pop artist’s name]?”
Several of the tweets have since been deleted, possibly reported as inappropriate by other netizens. But Koreaboo gathered screenshots and they are beyond insensitive. One even said that CupcakKe deserved it after she allegedly harassed BTS member Jungkook after posting a sexual tweet containing his name. All of this was obviously done to attack her at her lowest point, as well as get a few laughs among themselves.
Personally, I understand how passionate fans of every music genre and entertainment medium can get because I was once on that train when I was younger. I also know people who are still so invested in these stars’ lives. But toxic fandom culture does exist and it brings out the worst in people.
A similar situation was when Pete Davidson had a suicide scare as well wherein his ex-fiancée Ariana Grande and rapper MGK rushed to the SNL venue in New York. The police also went and checked on Pete. While all this was happening, Arianators wished the comedian dead because they either disliked him as a person or as their idol’s former flame.
This is something they’ve done before, even when Pete opened up about having a borderline personality disorder. This also prompted the former couple to post separate statements to stop the bullying that’s been happening after the breakup.
People should realize that disliking someone doesn’t give them a free pass to wish death onto others. It doesn’t matter if they’re celebrities or not, mental illnesses aren’t something you should recklessly dismiss because they’re real and they can destroy lives. How you act towards a celebrity who suffers from this is a reflection of how you’ll act to people you actually know.
I’m not saying that all fans are horrible. At the same time, they shouldn’t say “not all fans” when their respective fandoms are being criticized. The sooner you acknowledge the wrongs within yourselves and your peers is the next step to bettering our interactions as decent human beings.
Art by Marian Hukom
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