Seth Green on Buffy Fandom Negativity

[BettyNewbie]

This is kind of old, but I found this on Reddit and thought it was interesting (and very sad):

For more context, Chris Hardwick and Seth Green were discussing the first time they experienced “haters” online and Chris told a story about visiting an old chat room. Hardwick was in his mid-20s and was currently hosting MTV’s Singled Out. He decided to drop in to an AOL chat room about the show and asked something like, “So how about that Chris Hardwick guy?” and we all know what happened next. Some colorful responses included: “tool” “fucking dork” “fucking idiot” “piece of shit”. Not a single positive comment. Chris was embarrassed and then instantly relieved when Seth said he had a similar story.

SG: If you believe any of the positive praise anyone has to say about you online then you have to take all the negative comments with the same weight and gravity. When Buffy was on the air the message board concept had begun and there were a handful of people on a message board community. I went onto it because I had never been on a show where I played a guy that got to kiss the girl. All of my roles were, I guess I’d done Airborne, but for the most part I played like the dorky, nerdy, weirdo, creeper, some version of that. In this show I was playing a guy with a guitar who was kind of cool and I had, you know, female peers of mine suddenly find me appealing and that was a brand new experience. So I went on the message boards for a little bit of gratification and I got nothing positive, just nothing good. All highly personal observations about my physicality, things you have no control over, really critical of my performance, or ‘what the fuck is he even doing here’ kind of, there was a lot.

CH: It’s the equivalent of going to the zoo and going, “You know what I should do? I should hop in that pen and pet those lions!"

SG: "I’m gonna run at that lion and show him who's boss!”. . . It's like, why did I do this?

CH: Lesson learned.

SG: Yeah.

Think online toxicity started in the Social Media Era? Think again.

Oz was originally supposed to stay on the show through the rest of S4, but Seth Green unexpectedly left midway through the season. It's sad to think that hateful fans may have been a possible reason. Seems like the show, as a whole, both behind the scenes and its fandom started getting really toxic and negative around late S3/early S4. (This was around the same time that SMG herself severed personal ties with Whedon.)

Also note that Seth is one of the few cast members who hasn't publicly spoken about the recent controversies. Could he still be afraid of fan backlash? If that's the case, I can't blame him.

[Tim]

And because of this vocal minority, all of a fandom can get blamed. 

Shame that these a-holes ruin it for everyone

[BettyNewbie]

Seth Green was actually in the Buffy movie, but his scene got cut. A still image still exists, and it appeared on both the VHS and DVD boxes. He would've been the only actor to appear in both the movie and show.

Being a diminutive redhead, Seth tended to get typecast as nerds and dorks (see his Buffy movie character or him in Airborne), so playing a cool rocker guy like Oz was a major breakout role for him.

Sad that he had to see so much hate from the fandom. Oz was easily the best male character on that show besides Giles, IMO. He wasn't a vampire (Angel, Spike), nor was he a total douchebag (Xander, Riley). He respected women, and his relationship with Willow was sweet, if somewhat sullied by her later coming out as gay. (Why couldn't she be bisexual, Whedon?)

[Tim]

Seth Green was actually in the Buffy movie, but his scene got cut. A still image still exists, and it appeared on both the VHS and DVD boxes. He would've been the only actor to appear in both the movie and show.

I never knew that.

Sad that he had to see so much hate from the fandom.

If these are fans, who needs critics?

[BettyNewbie]

Unfortunately, these toxic "fans" still exist at a place called Buffy Boards.com. Go over there, and you will find (I shit you not) a ton of brain-dead MAGAs kissing Cheeto butt in-between Buffy discussions:


The Lies that politicians say.

US Presidential Candidate Debate

Young Republicans in USA

(Trigger warning for extreme stupidity and fascist sympathizing in these links.)


And, the threads about Whedon's controversies over there are nothing but an endless stream of "Waaaahhhh! SJWs! PC Police! Cancel Culture!" and assertions that Charisma and the other accusers are all lying and looking for attention. You might as well have just stepped into 4chan.

[Tim]

Buffy Boards.com?  May as well re-title the place We Love Orange.com

That's what happens when the Staff abandon a site.

[BettyNewbie]

Mar 7, 2021 0:30:34 GMT -5 Tim said:

Buffy Boards.com?  May as well re-title the place We Love Orange.com

That's what happens when the Staff abandon a site.

That site is a living fossil. You can find the remnants of a legitimate fan community when you browse through the archives, but most of those people left 10-15 years ago. The "core" Buffy fandom is now on sites like Reddit and Tumblr, leaving the surviving forums to the bottom-feeders.

The only saving grace is that sites like Buffy Boards are too small and irrelevant to be the face of the fandom anymore, so most people won't see the filth being posted there. But, it's still disturbing to see this happening to fan sites.

[Tim]

That site is a living fossil. You can find the remnants of a legitimate fan community when you browse through the archives, but most of those people left 10-15 years ago. The "core" Buffy fandom is now on sites like Reddit and Tumblr, leaving the surviving forums to the bottom-feeders.

Well, since Troll Central (AKA the IMDB boards) is history, those bottom feeders had to go somewhere.

And this is probably what would have happened to The Charmed Sons board, had Aretha not taken it down.   Thank God that didn't happen.

[Melinda Halliwell]

I watched a YouTube documentary of Seth Green recently detailing his film and TV career which he talked about including his break out role in Buffy which he enjoyed doing and was grateful for the opportunity of course.

He liked Oz as a character and still respects having played him to this day because of what that did for him work wise getting picked to be Scott Evil in the Austin Powers franchise which saddens me hearing what certain people thought about him being Oz obviously.

[Tim]

And these "fans" make the rest of us look bad.

As a long time Star Trek fan, I've often had to tell people that the stereotypes seen on TV shows are a small minority, not what most fans are like.

[BettyNewbie]

Shipping wars may have played a role in the Oz hate-a-thon. A lot of people shipped Willow with Xander in the early seasons and didn't like that Willow was given a new love interest after having been depicted crushing on Xander in S1.

Of course, once Willow came out in S4, the crosshairs moved to Tara/Amber Benson and took on an ugly shade of homophobia.

[Tim]

Of course, once Willow came out in S4, the crosshairs moved to Tara/Amber Benson and took on an ugly shade of homophobia.

And those "fans" no doubt popped the Champaign cork when Tara was killed. 

Hate a character all you want, that's fine.  But leave the actor alone.

[Melinda Halliwell]

Exactly though it wouldn't surprise me things like that might put certain people of acting because of the possible hate they could get character-wise whoever they played which's wrong and shouldn't happen unless they're experienced in this area and just ignore what happens and brush that under the carpet then. 

People should be tolerant of others which's why it's important children are educated on this when their old enough so acceptance is more widely known and understood about of course.

[BettyNewbie]

Mar 8, 2021 0:30:57 GMT -5 Tim said:

And those "fans" no doubt popped the Champaign cork when Tara was killed.

They did up until Willow was put with Kennedy in the final season. Hatred of her is the one thing that unites Willow/Xander, Willow/Oz, and Willow/Tara shippers, lol.

Mar 8, 2021 0:30:57 GMT -5 Tim said:

Hate a character all you want, that's fine.  But leave the actor alone.

What Seth Green's story shows is that, even back then, the actors were reading message boards and seeing what fans were posting. And, this is even more the case nowadays in the era of Twitter and Instagram.

You may think you're only criticizing a fictional character, but there's still a real person playing that character. And, it's hard to draw the line between the two when you're attacking them for their appearance.

[adzpower]

I can't believe people hated Tara, she was one of the most likeable characters imo, I was heartbroken when she died. I always wonder how things would have differed had they made Xander gay instead. I do wonder if Nicholas Brendan would have been okay with kissing other guys, some actors *COUGHhomophobesCOUGH* may have had a problem. Not that he is, I have no idea.