What Is RPFing? Hudson Williams Called It Out

Like any Met Gala attendee, Hudson Williams spent the night of May 4 being photographed, reposted, and dissected online. Fans flooded social media with reactions to his look, clips from the event, and commentary about who he interacted with throughout the night. But, after fans continued posting about him and his Heated Rivalry co-star, Connor Storrie, Williams made a post on X that has since gone viral and sparked a larger conversation. 

“Rpfing gotta stop yall,” the post plainly stated. 

Internet fandom culture has changed dramatically in recent years, especially as celebrities and influencers become more accessible online through constant social media updates. The debate around privacy, consent, and fandom culture is getting harder to ignore. Williams’s post has made this fact abundantly clear — his comment has tons of people talking about boundaries around celebrities, with fans arguing over where harmless jokes end and invasive behavior begins. Some have agreed with Williams and argued that social media has blurred the lines between harmless fandom and full-blown parasocial relationships. Others are defending it. Some are even saying that the posts being made are not actually RPF.

But let’s back up for a second. What is RPFing, anyway? If you’re not hyper-aware of fandom culture, then you might not know what the term actually means, or why celebrities are getting so frustrated by it.

What is RPF?

“RPF” is a term short for “real person fiction.” It refers to fanfiction, or fan-created stories, edits, or imagined relationships involving real people, rather than fictional characters. The practice has existed for a long time in online spaces, particularly focusing on musicians, actors, and athletes. While it used to live in more niche spaces (think Tumblr, Wattpad, and other fanfiction forums), social media has pushed it further into the mainstream through TikTok edits, memes, and reposts. 

According to a February 2026 Teen Vogue article on RPFing,  many people within fandom spaces believe there is an unspoken etiquette surrounding RPF, which is to keep it within fan communities and avoid directly involving celebrities themselves. Nowadays, though, as fans post on social media and tag their favorite celebrity, it’s becoming harder to keep boundaries on this content.  

Why is Williams calling out RPFing? 

The controversy surrounding Hudson Williams’ comments didn’t come out of nowhere. For months, fans online have closely followed Williams and Storrie, frequently posting edits, compilations, and jokes centered around the pair’s chemistry both on and off screen. As the actors continued appearing together at major public events, fans kept speculating about a possible relationship between the two of them, despite William’s confirming he has a girlfriend. After the Met Gala, one fan posted something alluding to a relationship between the two co-stars, which then resulted in the now-deleted comment by Williams. 

Whether fans see RPF as harmless culture or an invasion of privacy, the conversations surrounding Williams’s post shows how the lines between fandom and real life have gotten blurrier. 

• celebrity
• culture
• entertainment