Yahoo Lifestyle Sophia Bush Asked Fans To "Please Get Consent Before Touching People," And 19 Other Times Celebs Set Boundaries With Fans
It's exciting to see one of your favorite celebs IRL, but sometimes, fans act a little too overfamiliar or entitled.
Here are 20 celebs who tried setting boundaries with their fans or called them out on their bad behavior:
1.In a 2024 TikTok video addressing her fans, Chappell Roan said, "I need you to answer questions. Just answer my questions for a second. If you saw a random woman on the street, would you yell at her out a car window? Would you harass her in public? Would you go up to a random lady and say, 'Can I get a photo with you?' And she's like, 'No, what the fuck?' And then you get mad at this random lady? Would you be offended if she says no to your time because she has her own time?"
She continued, "Would you stalk her family? Would you follow her around? Would you try to dissect her life and bully her online? This is a lady you don't know, and she doesn't know you at all. Would you assume that she's a good person? Assume she's a bad person? Would you assume everything you read online about her is true? I'm a random bitch. You're a random bitch. Just think about for that a second, okay?"
In a follow-up TikTok, she said, "I don't care that abuse and harassment, stalking, whatever, is a normal thing to do to people who are famous, or a little famous, whatever. I don't care that it's normal. I don't care that this crazy type of behavior comes along with the job, the career field I've chosen. That does not make it okay. That doesn't make it normal. Doesn't mean I want it. Doesn't mean that I like it. I don't want whatever the fuck you think you're supposed to be entitled to whenever you see a celebrity."
She continued, "I don't give a fuck if you think it's selfish of me to say no for a photo or for your time or for a hug. That's not normal. That's weird. It's weird how people think that you know a person just 'cause you see them online and you listen to the art they make. That's fucking weird. I'm allowed to say no to creepy behavior, okay?"
2.After attending a kickoff DNC event in 2024, Sophia Bush posted a statement on her Instagram story asking to "please get consent before touching people" and "treat people like people, even if you 'know' them from their jobs."
3.In 2024, Tyler, the Creator told Mavericks that some "weirdo" fans "get on [his] fucking nerves." He said, "The internet's crazy, these kids hack everything..they wanna know who your sister is, what you ate for dinner…mind your fucking business. Go the fuck outside and listen to the damn art or the music. Because of the internet, people don't know personal boundaries anymore, and it's normalized…[but] it's like 'we don't know each other.'"
He also said, "Because you like a song, or because you like a movie, that gives you permission to be a fucking weirdo?"
4.In a 2016 Instagram post, Justin Bieber wrote, "If you happen to see me out somewhere know that I'm not gonna take a picture I'm done taking pictures. It has gotten to the point that people won't even say hi to me or recognize me as a human, I feel like a zoo animal, and I wanna be able to keep my sanity."
He continued, "I realize people will be disappointed but I don't owe anybody a picture. and people who say 'but I bought ur album' know that you got my album and you got what you paid for AN ALBUM! It doesn't say in fine print whenever you see me you also get a photo."
Then, in a 2020 Instagram Story post, Justin called out people who congregated outside his home, writing, "How do you convince yourself it’s not completely inappropriate and disrespectful to wait outside my home to gawk, stare and take pictures as I walk into my apartment."
"This is not a a hotel. It’s my home," he said.
He also addressed fans waiting outside his apartment building face to face. In a fan-captured TikTok that was uploaded in 2021, he said, "I hear you, I hear you. But this is my home. You know what I mean? This is where I live. And I don't appreciate you guys being here. You know when you come home at the end of the night, and you want to relax? This is my space to do that. So I would appreciate it if you guys could leave."
5.In a fan-captured TikTok video from a 2024 performance, Reneé Rapp seemingly shut down a fan's lewd sign, saying, "No, my tits are staying in my shirt."
Previously, in 2023, she told Etalk, "People say really absurd things, and I'm wondering what about my personality warrants people to feel like they can slash should say this. Because if somebody said that to me, like, in person, I don't know if I would be like — 'this is so weird' or if I would be like, 'that's hot.'"
6.In 2023, Doja Cat reportedly declined a fan's request to tell her fans she loved them on Threads, writing, "i don't though cuz i don't even know yall."
She also told Harper's Bazaar, "My theory is that if someone has never met me in real life, then, subconsciously, I'm not real to them. So when people become engaged with someone they don't even know on the internet, they kind of take ownership over that person. They think that person belongs to them in some sense. And when that person changes drastically, there is a shock response that is almost uncontrollable. … I've accepted that that's what happens. So put my wigs on and take them off. I shave my head or my eyebrows. I have all the freedom in the world."
7.In a resurfaced video clip of Anne Hathaway leaving a Valentino fashion show in 2022, she told a group of fans, "I cannot take photos with everyone as there's too many of you, but I will stand here and wave if you would like to take a photo."
She continued, "I cannot sign. There's too many of you...but I want you to have something. So, if you'd like, I'll just wave a little bit. Thank you for understanding. Thank you for waving."
She also spoke to them in Italian.
8.In 2023, Heartstopper actor Joe Locke told Teen Vogue that his mom had to make new social media accounts because of fans messaging her or attempting to find her location. He also said some fans called his grandmother.
He said, "It's a mutual thing. I need to learn my boundaries, and people need to learn their boundaries. Most attention comes from a really good place, and I hope I always appreciate that."
9.Onstage at The Eras Tour in Buenos Aires in 2023, Taylor Swift told the audience, "And just because communication means having gentle, healthy boundaries — it really freaks me out when stuff gets thrown on the stage because if it's on the stage then a dancer can trip on it."
She continued, "I love that you brought presents, and that is so nice, but just can you please not throw them on the stage? I love you so much."
10.In 2022, Keke Palmer tweeted, "No means no, even when it doesn’t pertain to sex. I was at the bar the other day and this girl asked me three times for a picture and I told her three times nicely that I did not want take one with her. She still preceded to film me against my will.."
In a follow-up tweet, she added, "If I went off on her I would’ve been wrong, so I just nervously laughed while my privacy was invaded upon."
11.In a viral video from 2023, Bad Bunny tossed a fan's phone after they tried to take a selfie with him. In a since-deleted tweet (translated from Spanish via the LA Times), he said, "The person who comes up to me to greet me, tell me something or just meet me will always receive my attention and respect."
He continued, "Those who come to put a damn phone in my face, I will consider it for what it is, a lack of respect and treat it as such."
12.In 2017, Emma Watson told Vanity Fair that she started declining fans' requests for selfies out in public. She explained, "For me, it's the difference between being able to have a life and not. If someone takes a photograph of me and posts it, within two seconds they've created a marker of exactly where I am within 10 meters. They can see what I'm wearing and who I'm with. I just can't give that tracking data."
She continued, "I'll say, 'I will sit here and answer every single Harry Potter fandom question you have, but I just can't do a picture.'" She said that, oftentimes, people decline.
"I have to carefully pick and choose my moment to interact. When am I a celebrity sighting versus when am I going to make someone’s freakin' week? Children I don't say no to, for example," she said.
13.On a 2019 episode of the Table Manners podcast, Emilia Clarke said that, while she was having a panic attack in the airport, a fan approached her and asked for a selfie. Because of that interaction, she decided that, when fans asked for a selfie, she'd offer to sign something instead.
She said, "I was on the phone to my mum saying, 'I feel like I can't breathe, I don't know what's going on.' I'm crying and crying, and this guy's like, 'Can I get a selfie?' I was like, 'I can't breathe, I'm really sorry.'"
When she's signing an autograph, she asks for the fan's name to make the moment into a "truthful human-to-human thing."
She said, "I signed up for [fame]. I'm just trying to navigate how I can do it without feeling like my soul is completely empty, because they don't really want to talk to you."
14.After a fan posted a video sneaking into her Here Lies Love Broadway dressing room, Lea Salonga stopped meeting guests in her dressing room for security reasons. In since-deleted tweets, she said, "The money you pay for a theatre/concert ticket does not mean all-access. You pay for that performer's art, and that's where it stops. I gotta say, the folks at the stage door have been so incredibly kind, which only makes us (well, me) enthusiastic to say hello and spend the time to talk to them."
She added, "I have boundaries. Do not cross them. Thank you."
15.In a series of since-deleted tweets from 2022, Mitski wrote, "I wanted to speak with you about phones at shows. They're part of our reality, I have mine on me all the time, and I'm not against taking photos at shows (though please no flash lol). But sometimes when I see people filming entire songs or whole sets, it makes me feel as though we are not here together. This goes for both when I'm on stage, and when I'm an audience member at shows."
She continued, "I love shows for the feeling of connection, of sharing a dream, and remembering that we have a brief miraculous moment of being alive at the same time, before we part ways. I feel I'm part of something bigger. When I'm on stage and look to you but you are gazing into a screen, it makes me feel as though those of us on stage are being taken from and consumed as content, instead of getting to share a moment with you."
16.In 2020, Waterparks singer Awsten Knight told Louder Sound that fans who make fun of him on social media "forget we don't actually know each other." He continued, "I feel like it's hard for people to differentiate between social media and the actual reality. So when a shitload of people are like, 'Dumb shit crackhead!' every day, it's like, oh god."
"If I ever am like, 'Jesus Christ, stop,' they're like, 'Oh my god! Marissa, he noticed you!' There are definitely ways to make me interact with you that aren't being like, 'You fucking rat face!' I think social media has made people feel like they're closer to artists or whoever than they actually are. When people feel close to you, they feel like they can poke at you," he said.
17.In a 2020 Instagram Story post, Cole Sprouse wrote, "I tolerate a lot of rumors and slander from people online claiming to be my fans. Fans who feel entitled to my privacy because I never indulge them. But attacking my friends, baseless accusations, leaking my address, and sending death threats are all qualities of insanity and fanaticism. Choose humanity, stop being [clowns]."
In another post, he added, "When I first stepped into a public relationship this was one of the foreseeable consequences. And while I truly never intended to indulge any part of my private life to the ravenous horde, it's clear my restraint in updating them has allowed them to push their own agenda onto my habits and lifestyle."
18.In a since-deleted 2016 Instagram post, Amy Schumer wrote, "This guy in front of his family just ran up next to me scared the s--t out of me. Put a camera in my face. I asked him to stop and he said ‘no it's America and we paid for you.' This was in front of his daughter. I was saying stop and no. Great message to your kid. Yes legally you are allowed to take a picture of me. But I was asking you to stop and saying no. I will not take [a] picture with people anymore and it's because of this dude in Greenville."
In a follow-up post, she said, "Thanks for the kind words and support. I'll still take pictures with nice people when I choose to if it's a good time for that. But I don't owe you anything. So don't take if I say no."
19.In a since-deleted 2017 tweet, Lili Reinhart wrote, "To the two girls who are repeatedly photographing me as I'm eating my lunch... I see you. You aren't slick…. that's f***ing rude. ?????"
In another tweet, she said, "No, no, no. This is what's wrong--- you think you're entitled to take a photo of me while I'm alone and eating because I'm on a tv show. So I asked for it, right? Wrong. I am a human being. I am not Betty Cooper. You aren't entitled to me. At all."
20.And finally, in a 2017 Variety's Actors on Actors conversation with Adam Sandler, Jennifer Lawrence said, "Once I enter a public space, I become incredibly rude. I become a huge asshole. That's my only way of defending myself."
She continued, "I'll see someone walking toward my table and just go [finger wag]. 'Can I have a selfie?' I'm like, 'No!'"
