Penn Badgley Urges Fans Not to Romanticize His Character in 'You'
By Natalie Zamora
It isn't unusual to sometimes root for the villain when watching a TV show or movie. Often, they're more complex and interesting than other characters, and it's fun to see what they'll do next. But when some take it too far and actually romanticize violence or toxic behavior, that's when things need to be taken down a notch.
That's exactly what's happening with the new series You, now available on Netflix, which stars Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg. Many viewers are finding similarities between Joe and Badgley's past role, Dan Humphrey on Gossip Girl. Both characters are are pretty much stalkers. But unlike Dan who ultimately had good intentions, Joe is not a good guy. So when fans online started getting super thirsty over Joe, Badgley had to step in and stop it.
Badgley has been responding fans romanticizing his character on Twitter, urging them to please stop, because it's getting weird.
Clearly, Badgley wants no part in this...
...and he has no problem giving the fans the straight facts on the matter.
And even when one compared Badgley's attractiveness from his time on Gossip Girl to his role on You, the actor was there to clarify the difference: Joe has problems. It shouldn't be "sexy."
Fans of any show often get a bit carried away while on Twitter, romanticizing a lot of strange things that aren't normally looked at that way. We can only hope some of these people are either joking or want some sort of attention. As attractive as Badgley may be, his character is not someone you should be lusting over. Period!