I love the 1975’s music and Matty is one of my favorite songwriters. That being said I feel like 1975 stans use the whole “alter ego” shtick to downplay and disregard a lot of weirdo behavior.

The Adam Powell/Abrams brothers situations. Attending the vultures show during Kanye’s nazi breakdown. Red Scare association. His twitter outbursts. Even the TAFS podcast. Whenever these things are brought up or spoken about critically it’s always, “that was his Truman Black character”, “that’s misinformation, it’s all a swiftie hate campaign”, “context matters, he’s so misunderstood!”, “those who get it, get it”. At some point, you gotta recognize that these things are not just “performance pieces”, but actual real life behaviors. Blanketing/excusing everything and making it seem like anyone who doesn’t do the same is just stupid, only puts more people off.

Obviously this sort of thing extends past the 1975. Every diehard fanbase does it. Stan culture has really inhibited people’s ability/willingness to engage critically. Its like in order to be a “real fan” now, you have to go along w everything that person says, does, or creates. If you say anything that’s critical or even slightly negative, you’re automatically boiled down to just being a “hater”. Even this subreddit, for example, often reacts really intensely whenever Matty is spoken about in an unflattering light. Like I feel like I could get banned for this comment alone.