#1 Fan (Pt. 2)
Or as my sister wanted me to call it, "The Yassification of Gypsy-Rose"
On January 23 2024, Queer Eye’s Bobby Berk publicly offered to redesign Gypsy-Rose’s house. A fan on TikTok decided to shoot their shot at being friends with Gypsy by sending a voice note of them singing changed lyrics to “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley. If you search “Gypsy-Rose Blanchard” on Etsy you get a variety of merchandise, from shirts and sweaters with her face that say “You served now it’s time to slay,” “Will you be my Gypsy-Rose?,” “Gypsy Rose is my homegirl,” “Gypsy Rose 4 President,” “Gypsy Rose Stan.” One fan made an acrylic nail with her portrait on it. There is no limit to the merch you can buy with Gypsy-Rose’s face on it, including the meme-worthy “The D is fire.”
The latter is a reference to a comment Gypsy-Rose Blanchard left on her husband Ryan Anderson’s1 Instagram after some of her fans started criticizing him. Some of the comments were about how he and Gypsy’s courtship began. Apparently, an acquaintance of his wanted to write to Tiger King’s Joe Exotic and Anderson allegedly said that “If you write him, I’ll write Gypsy-Rose Blanchard.” Gypsy-Rose had many paramours while in prison and was engaged before “meeting” Anderson, so while the marriage may seem a bit surprising it isn’t all that shocking. It didn’t take long for fans to start criticizing Anderson’s appearance, with many drawing physical similarities between Anderson and Gypsy’s deceased mother and abuser Dee Dee Blanchard and were quick to judge Anderson because of that. This resulted with Gypsy commenting on her husband’s Instagram on January 2 2024 with a now meme-worthy quote:
Ryan, don’t listen to the haters. I love you, and you love me. We do not owe anyone anything. Our family is who matters. If you get likes and good comments great, if you get hate then whatever because THEY DON’T MATTER. I love you💕 besides they jealous because you are rocking my world every night…yeah I said it, the D is fire🔥 happy wife happy life ❤️
After following her case for years and urging for her freedom, Gypsy’s fans were excited by her posts and more than willing to show their dedication to her in a variety of ways. But fans can only stay dedicated for so long. Following the pattern of parasocial relationships, sooner or later fans will start to criticize their idol if they believe they are acting in a way that they don’t like.
I don’t really know what Gypsy’s fans thought she would be like, but like most celebrities she quickly disappointed them. It’s an inevitability of stardom. Lin-Manuel Miranda was praised as a genius for creating Hamilton before becoming cringe, Jennifer Lawrence was cool and relatable before fans saw her as rude and privileged, Rachel Zegler was a new “It” girl before being called ungrateful for her comments about her role as the titular Snow White. I once went to a panel featuring Doug Walker, the Nostalgia Critic, at a convention and witnessed a fan disappointed that Walker didn’t react to his question as he expected he would2.
To rise as a star is to fall like one, but at least with traditional celebrities like movie stars it’s expected. From PR to media training, fans have a carefully stylized version of their favourite celebrity presented to them, complicated further by the fictional characters they play. But obsession with true crime has further complicated things. Empathy starts to be created for people who are undeserving of it, criticisms are given of victims3, and an overall desensitization to the trauma of the crime unfolds. When Monster: A Jeffrey Dahmer Story was released many true crime fans complained that the show was too calm in terms of it’s violence, that many were desensitized after all of the true crime they had consumed.
The true crime fandom is a relatively new thing, and I don’t think people know how to consume it correctly. There will always be complications with idolizing another person. People are flawed, imperfect, and to raise someone on a pedestal means a long, painful fall when it eventually topples over. But to idolize a victim, or a culprit, comes with its own problems. Gypsy-Rose is unique in that she fits both these roles, she was a victim for years of Munchausen by Proxy by her mother and was also found guilty of the second-degree murder of her mother, her abuser. There is no way for Gypsy’s fans to love her only as a victim when she is also a perpetrator.
But Gypsy’s fans were quick to defend her actions, while others are quick to criticize, most of this publicly in comments on Gypsy’s social media accounts or on Reddit threads. Such is the life of an Influencer, on display for the world and open to never-ending critiques. It’s different for true crime, when people can easily search the gory details and know the intimate details of what happened. While voyeurism and intimacy has always existed in parasocial relationships, it again changes with the true crime fandom. With most celebrities, fans only get a glimpse into their lives, with true crime fans have gotten a glimpse into the worst moment of these people’s lives, one that’s become inescapable.
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“Is anyone else getting off vibes about Gypsy-Rose Blanchard?”
Gypsy-Rose hasn’t done anything egregious to start getting this kind of response, but her fans have started to turn on her. The long-abused victim-murderess isn’t acting the way people want her to, though their envision personality of Gypsy is also a mystery. But whether people are focusing on the crime itself, her responses in interviews, or whatever else it is fans are seeing something they don’t like. People praising how sweet she and her husband and looked together and how happy Gyspy seemed were quickly replaced with fans claiming that Gypsy quieted Ryan in an interview the same way her mother used to do to her. Some people are starting to claim that Gypsy-Rose is a manipulator. Comments calling her “mother” and saying she was “serving cunt” have been replaced with: “idk something doesnt sit right with me about her,” “Is it just me or does Gypsy remind me of Anna Delvey,” “The fact that people are idolising her…”
I’m not a fan of TikTok. Like many millennials, I downloaded the app in the beginning of the pandemic and haven’t been able to quit it. While some of the videos on there are funny, I find I get more annoyed by it. Having enjoyed fandom mainly on Tumblr back in the day, it’s weird to see the way it’s adapted itself onto TikTok. There are weird parallels and repetitions, but mostly there’s just meanness. I know that makes me sound old4, but it’s fascinating to watch a younger generation of fans proudly and publicly be mean to one another in their fandom groups5 without caring who sees how they’re acting. They don’t seem to care about digital footprints and will use their legal names as their usernames without worrying about who will find them or how it may follow them later in life. They mock one another, they’re rude to strangers, they’re proudly abelist in claiming Helen Keller couldn’t possibly do all she did in life6. In the same sentence they call Gypsy-Rose “mother” they’ll say her “vibes are off.”
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Some TikTok users seem to be aware that the fan culture around Gypsy-Rose is strange and have critiqued it in a variety of forms, my favourite from comedian Caitlin Riley who pokes fun in a skit about how interviewers, and people in general, have been treating Gypsy since her release from prison. One commenter accurately said, “you encapsulated the dystopia that is gypsy rose’s press tour so beyond perfectly.” Many stitches are criticizing those making videos about Gypsy’s vibes being “off” by correctly explaining that she is a person who has lived through an extreme case of trauma. How could she ever hope to have “good vibes”?
It’s been an interesting thing to watch. Gypsy-Rose took January by storm and has now movie from idol to villain to joke. It’s not uncommon now to see TikTok users mimicking her voice and making skits pretending to be her. Gypsy-Rose is just following the trajectory of a star, but she could rise again. The same fans who called Lin-Manuel Miranda cringe and wanted him to “stop being in everything” lamented that he wasn’t the songwriter for Disney’s newest (flop) Wish. Gypsy-Rose could say something else that’s funny. Maybe Bobby Berk will redo her home, maybe she’ll be stunt-casted in Chicago. Or maybe she’ll just live an ordinary life.
It’s hard to say. But first coming across Gypsy-Rose' Blanchard’s case just as it was unfolding, I never would have thought she’d have fans. I never thought that she’d be posting content, that people would be clamoring to interview her, to be her friend. From daily vloggers to true crime to influencers, fandom has evolved in ways I never could have predicted. I have no idea what will come next.
What Else I’ve Been Doing:
Reading: Finished Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo and Yaga by Kat Sandler. Currently reading Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo.
Listening To: Discover Weekly playlist.
Watching: Season One of Six Feet Under, Season Two of What We Do In the Shadows, One Pace (Baratie), Elemental, Society of the Snow.
A Louisiana special education teacher who became pen pals with Gypsy after hearing about her case.
Walker told the fan that he didn’t respond to his question as the Nostalgia Critic because the Nostalgia Critic is just a character he plays.
And victim blaming.
But everyone hates millennials anyway so I really don’t care.
And in general, honestly.
This makes me too angry to write about.