An actor has talked about the dark side of the fame of the Internet, revealing that once was trolled so much that he had to change.
Star Stone, from New York, says she was attacked by more than 200,000 comments after being edited as the “villain” in a viral YouTube video.
She starred in a series called Odd Man Out: Vegans versus Meat Eaters, which consisted of six vegan contestants tried to find the secret meat dining room between them for a cash prize.
After receiving a whopping 17 million visits, hundreds of thousands of common ones have left the hate messages addressed to Star and their questions.
The actor says that the abuse was extended on all platforms with his recent messages and comments about Tiktok, Reddit, Instagram, and in his list of poetry books on Amazon
With about five years of intimidation, Star says that his mental health makes a serious blow.
She said: “People harassed, harassed and harassed me for five years. He made me question my identity and affected my mental health.
“Anything you can imagine that I told me hurtful.”
Star says that when the video was launched for the first time and saw the way it was portrayed, it immediately called the producers, but they could not provide support.
She states that the company would only restrict certain words in the comments section, but refused to eliminate the video.
The production company was approached to comment.
The actor says he eliminated all his social networks to try to stop hate, but nothing seemed to work.
She said: “When I removed my social networks, the video was still being replaced, shared and commented.
“That is what happens with social networks is that once something is online, you can live forever.
“Then, only without access to it, people still sent me a message on different platforms and recognized me in person, which still happens now and is a leg 6 years.
“At first it was very alarm to see how passionate people were about this video and how far the public’s reach was.”
On why it was that she returned so much to hate, Star believes that this could be due to the “mentality of the mafia.”
But it also suspects that part of this can be rooted in misogyny.
She added: “I think we still feel uncomfortable with women who show competitive behavior with men.
“In my case, I think that I was competitive and wanted to win, my behavior is typically something that we associate with men.
“I wonder if a man had done exactly the same as me, would he have recovered hatred or would he be praised for playing a good game?”
Now, Star has decided to use his experience in a single -woman multimedia comedy show was.
The show, directed by Ryan Cunningham, premiered in New York in 2024 and was very popular at the Edimburg Fringe Festival last summer.
With real comments and clips of the viral video, Star says that his performance aims to show the fun side of everything that happened to him.
The audience reactions so far include tears and laughs, but mostly disbelief that all events really happened.
Star said: “This video is about finding some that are not vegan, it was nonsense and should have fun bone. The fact that people have touched it so far and was so serious about it, you just have to find humor in it.
“If you can laugh at yourself and see the nonsense and ridicule of any situation, then you have won.
“I hope this program can have a positive impact on many people and change the dialogue around to become viral, cancel culture and be intimidated online.
“My director says that comedy is trauma more time, and I think it is important to find humor in challenges.
“I hope to help others who have gone through this sharing this program and continue talking about it.”
The show is now ready to make its premiere in London at the Bree and Roses Theater in Clapham on June 8 and 9.
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