Fandom-esque is a bi-monthly blog about fans in pop culture and their latest work in TV, movies, and more.
Pedro Pascal is everywhere these days.
I, for one, have been card-carrying Pascal since the days of “Game of Thrones” where Oberyn Martell, the bisexual prince, played me in my dreams. Like so many from this show, he left way too early, and Jon Snow’s sultry face couldn’t match the fiery Red Viper in my heart.
I’m a little thirsty, I’ll admit it! But Pascal was dubbed the “Father” of the Internet by the internet official when Pascal participated in a Vanity Fair polygraph test interview and was asked, “Who’s the older dad, you or Oscar Isaac?”
His response, which broke many internet and fan circles – “I’m an older dad. I’m older than him. Even though he’s a real dad, he has kids and I don’t. But dad is a state of mind. You know what I’m saying? I’m your dad.”
This video is for convenience purposes. Watch this. Believe me.
The point is, Pascal has moves – and he knows exactly how to please his fans and the wider media to get the press. He sure has been doing quite well in Hollywood lately. He’s transitioned from King’s Landing to Tatooine as Din Djarin, star of Disney+ “The Mandalorian” — and he didn’t even have to take his helmet off for the perfect smoke. He was recently on a press tour promoting the new HBO series “The Last of Us,” in which he plays real-life dad, Joel Miller, a zombie smuggler tasked with transporting a girl named Ellie across the continental United States.
“The Last of Us” is shaping up to be HBO’s biggest grossing cow among “House of the Dragon” seasons, and it has a lot going for it. The video game of the same name on which the show is based, It is considered one of the best of all time – and Joel is a very likable and very thirsty character.
However, some people couldn’t care less about Pascal’s newfound “father” status.
Many of Pascal’s fans may have overanalyzed a video of Pascal at the premiere of “The Last of Us” where a reporter asked him “if he knew he was the father of the internet.” Pascal responds accordingly, and while he doesn’t seem overly uncomfortable to me, some fans think the father has gone too far.
“I’m your cool daddy, slutty.” Pedro Pascal #The last of us pic.twitter.com/yeQYkcHW1F
– Entertainment Tonight (etnow) January 16, 2023
Is he too much sex with Pascal? yes. One of the unfortunate realities of being a Latino actor in Hollywood is that more than half the time they are put into overly sexualized roles. Oberyn Martell, for all that I love, doesn’t escape the “hot alien” stereotype. People in real life or on the Internet would do the same to an actor.
It raises an interesting point, the ethics of celebrity sexualization – which I’d like to note I’ve seen discussed recently with male actors.
Pascal is a good example. He’s leaning towards his “mom,” and will most likely lobby for his own new shows and movies — but is that something we should really be calling? We don’t know him, and the hard reality for many of his obsessed fans is that they don’t have sex with him.
Markiplier, a bastion of all Gen Z childhoods and one of the most prolific game streamers/YouTubers out there, OnlyFans actually broke last year. He promised to donate the proceeds to charity after fans responded to his request to direct his podcast to the top of the streaming charts.
I suppose just being a content creator means approving of people saying weird things in your mentions and DMs online. In all of the preparation for Markiplier’s nude release, he’s definitely gotten some rave reviews from fans. Here’s a TikTok below with a snippet from one of his livestreams, and I’ll admit that in this video Markiplier doesn’t seem comfortable with what’s being said, like “slapping the tip on the camera.”
@employee
I’m not one to believe in the old sayings – that “blood is thicker than water” bullshit didn’t make sense to me – but “selling sex” is right every time.
BuzzFeed has had a huge hit with their YouTube series “Celebrity Thirst Tweets” Where most male celebrities interact with thirsty tweets about them. The videos feature Henry Cavill, Ben Barnes, Taron Egerton, Andrew Garfield, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, and dozens of others. Some of the videos are funny, and the celebs seem to be taking the tweets in a good sport, but there are definitely some embarrassing clips where I’m sure the super celeb is wondering how long this interview is going to last.
But as I mentioned earlier, I’ve noticed fans only bring up “limits” and “appropriateness” when it’s the male celebrities who are getting slammed from the thirsty people on the internet.
According to the PEW Research Center33% of women under 35 report experiencing sexual harassment online compared to only 11% of men under 35. I’m sure celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Megan Fox, Zendaya, Gina Ortega, Megan Thee Stallion and more don’t even bother looking at their DMs.
We wouldn’t be able to stop people from tweeting weird thirsty things about celebrities, and I agree the price of fame is dealing with uncomfortable stuff from fans from time to time. If Pascal or Marciplier or anyone is explicitly asking people to stop calling them something – that should be respected.
In general, I advise people to practice the art of saying… nothing. You can thirst for Pascal in silence, for the many TikTok edits on it. Actually, this one is for the road, I hope I didn’t see your comment on it.
@employee During the reign of Pedro Pascal… #fyp #aexcheck #my longing #game of thrones