Last thing I will say on this: Belmont is not naive or unaware. After his GF unfollowed Ella, he knew exactly what fandoms do and do not notice online, especially on Instagram. Out of all his posts, Bel selected all his Off Campus promos with Ella Bright and deleted them. Moments that he said he was really proud of (Kimmel) and were defining events of this new rise to stardom. They also served as an introduction of Garrett Graham to the fanbase and wider world. He knew how it would look, how it could be perceived, and did it anyway... because NOT having these show up on his profile was more important than just keeping them on his page as moments to look back on fondly or for new fans being introduced to the man who plays Garrett Graham.
Hate the fans, the fame, all of it as much as you want. I'm sure it's no easy transition or burden to carry, especially for a very attractive white male. But he knew what message it would send after he claimed to not care about being online and not engaging in social media. It is really hard to believe that he suddenly cared about the "aesthetics" of his IG page or that he wanted it to feel more "personal." He left up old official promos with female costars from prior projects.
A part of me will be really sad if this is his way of distancing himself from Off Campus and Garrett Graham entirely because he intends to leave the show after season 2. This may be spiraling and reading into things, but we haven't seen Belmont engage in ANY Off Campus content in months. He's distanced himself from the cast publicly and on social media. He hasn't dropped ANY hints in interviews that there will be any further GG content beyond Season 2. He is now actively removing Off Campus content from his page as the fandom gets news that Season 3 official announcement and development are imminent. Is this wrong? Probably. I hope so. This same script has happened time and time again in fandoms where public behavior and social media disappearance + changes precede major departures from TV shows.
I at least hope Bel told Ella before he deleted these collaborative posts of the two of them. I think we all forget because of how poised and mature she is that she is only nineteen and is also riding this turbulent wave of fame the best she can. She is the youngest cast member who grew up in the quarantine COVID generation where social media interactions do mean something. And online drama like this DOES make it back to the cast members. So I hope she found out from her ~30 year old costar at least via text or DM and NOT the internet that he deleted their collaborative posts from his page.
Lastly, if any of this makes any kind of splash... the people in the fandom loved Bel as Garrett Graham because he brought the core component of Elle Kennedy's GG to life: the absolute steadfast enjoyment & love for Wellsy the character. Yes, these are just silly IG posts you made with your costar and friend to promote what became a really big show. But they kinda meant something to the people who love the characters Wellsy and GG. And we sorta thought those characters meant something to you too.
he’s frustrated and fed up with the hundreds of people who camped out to watch them all day like they were at a freaking general admission concert. stop taking things out of context and spinning them to get a hit tweet. chris and lola were both rightfully annoyed.
It must be really difficult for Lola and Chris to stay in character with the crowd being so loud and disruptive. I also read somewhere that the shooting locations were broadcast on TV… like, come on, who does that?? 😭 I genuinely feel bad for the actors.
I genuinely feel so sorry for the actors that book a part in a book adaptation. on the one hand you have the book fans that will never be happy and they will just whine about everything, on the other hand you have the parasocial freaks that will bully your girlfriend
yeah it was fun at first when people were taking videos/photos from like miles away on a flip phone, but it’s time to wrap it up. I hate how stressed they look with the crowd and it potentially messing with filming 🙁