Following a wave of online controversy, popular Minecraft YouTuber Dream took to Twitter to address critics and show them why he believes all of the backlash is inherently misguided.
Dream and the Dream Team, with friends like Tommyinnit and Quackity, have been one of the largest sources of online entertainment thanks to a consistent flood of content across YouTube and Twitch. While their videos and streams, including of the entire Dream SMP Minecraft server, have brought Dream a huge amount of fans — that popularity appears to have come with a downside.
Originally, most of the drama surrounding Dream involved accusations about him cheating during a 1.16 Minecraft speedrun. But now, a very different sort of critique has emerged, as fans and critics bemoan the content creator’s inability to restrain the least appropriate segments of his community.
Over the past week, #dreamwaswrong began trending on Twitter and similar complaints moved across social media. The basis for this backlash surrounded a subculture of Dream fans that had begun creating inappropriate fanfiction and art involving the minors who represented the Dream Team. In response, Dream has shot down those critics.
https://twitter.com/Dream/status/1352705286818115593
Drawing a theoretical parallel, the faceless content creator philosophically makes his perspective known. Mocking his critics, Dream criticizes the media and his detractors using a hypothetical scenario.
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“Dream has refused to condemn murder after one of his fans turned out to be a murderer. Will he finally be held accountable?”
Essentially, Dream suggests that people criticize him for the actions of others — noting that he ought to be “held accountable” for the vile actions (in this hypothetical instance: murder) of his fans. The point of this example is to highlight the absurdity of a causal relationship between influencer and the influenced.
While fans and critics appear to be divided on the efficacy of Dream’s tweet, it’s clear that he is trying to push back against those who blame him for the actions of his viewers. In the social media age, this relationship between popular figure and stan is a particularly nuanced one.
For what it’s worth, Dream has also taken a much more firm stance against inappropriate subcultures of his fandom on his alternate account, DreamWasTaken. It remains to be seen whether or not that will be enough to satisfy his critics, but the situation is obviously a contentious one.