In the second half of 2018, we talked a lot about Noah Centineo on LaineyGossip, and for good reason. As Kathleen has pointed out on numerous occasions, he is a thirst trap master. His oh-so-perfectly messy hair and cheeky smile are enchanting, and we all wish we were Lara Jean Covey, I know. But Teen Vogue’s article on his recent interaction with *shudders* Logan Paul really puts into perspective how much we romanticize celebrities. 

As Teen Vogue reports, Logan Paul posted this clearly reflective and eloquent analysis of his 2018:

Although now deleted, Noah liked and retweeted the post with the comment: “Beautiful man. It’s not just about overcoming adversity, it’s about overcoming yourself in the face of adversity. We can all learn a lot from this growth.” If you don’t know who Logan Paul is, I wrote about him last week and his joke about “going gay for a month.” Logan has had a track record of stupid and insensitive decisions that he fails to properly apologize or make amends for. Despite facing backlash for numerous videos, he still trudges on in his quest to make the worst decisions. Any way you try to frame it, most people would not say that he is a “beautiful man.”

Both Logan and Noah have similar fan bases. They are both adored by younger, teenage/tweenaged boys and girls. Fans who have reacted to Noah’s tweet argue that his support for a YouTuber who made light of gay identity and who filmed the body of a suicide victim is incredibly irresponsible for someone with such a widely reaching, influential platform. I’m also not really sure why Noah is backing the clearly problematic and limping horse that is Logan Paul’s reputation. Here’s how I break it down:

1.    Noah is uninformed. This is impossible, because you need to literally watch 10 seconds of Logan’s videos, read 5 lines of his Wikipedia, or read one tweet to understand what he’s all about. 
2.    Noah is ignorant. Maybe he knows all of this but doesn’t really think it’s that big of a deal. This is privilege, and it’s pretty reasonable to assume that he has this in heaps. 
3.    Noah agrees with Logan Paul. This is the worst one, but unfortunately not as unlikely as one might think. This just means that Noah is either really stupid, or just like Logan Paul, both of which are not great options. 

Since Noah’s tweet, he has been on Twitter but hasn’t actually acknowledged the harsh reaction. People are calling him trash, and “cancelling,” or “unstanning” him. Of late, “stan” culture has given celebrities access to huge fanbases that support and cherish their work. But often, stanning someone can also mean propping them up on a pedestal that they are undoubtedly destined to fall from. To admonish people or “cancel” them based on small infractions propagates a culture where unattainable perfection is demanded, and human mistakes are punished without mercy. 

I’m not defending Noah Centineo. I think his tweet was misguided, asinine, and irresponsible. But Noah is human, and while I don’t find him as attractive as I did before, I’m not sure he should be cancelled because of this one tweet. Instead, maybe we should stop making basic white boys our ideal versions of boyfriends, and focus on just enjoying their work, their gossip, and maybe even diversifying our options a bit. For example, let’s show some love to rising, queer, comedy star, Jaboukie Young-White. Here’s his stand-up from the Tonight Show two years ago: