“OMG, is that cigarette? ICK!” – Nice to know you have no interest in smokers, just find someone who doesn’t do it.
Cole Sprouse has recently guested on the 2020, 21 & 22 Nominee for People’s Choice Award for Favorite Pop Podcast Call Her Daddy hosted by Alex Cooper. The interview has gone viral across social media platforms and for more negative reasons than positive.
Let the record show I have always been a Sprouse brothers fan, I will always be a Sprouse brothers fan and this article is strictly in defense of a male celebrity who is simply living his life and getting hated on for it.
Let’s go through the most common list of reasons he has received such negative attention.
First, as mentioned at the beginning, he ASKED Alex if he could smoke a cigarette. He was nice and respectful in asking the host if he could smoke in her space seeing as he is a guest. It’s the same manners you show when you’re invited into someone’s home; but no, lets focus on the fact that he smokes a cigarette. According to the CDC, “Nearly 40 million U.S. adults still smoke cigarettes, and 3.08 million middle and high school students use at least one tobacco product, including e-cigarettes.”
Yes, there are negative effects of smoking, and so are many other things. However, Cole Sprouse is a smart and young man who can make his own decisions. You don’t have to like it, but that is how it is. I mention the e-cigarettes because of I, assume, that a lot of the negative comments Sprouse has gotten are from those who indeed have e-cigarettes.
Secondly, his past relationship with Riverdale co-star, Lili Reinhart. Comedy podcast host Cooper asked Sprouse about his past relationships as a whole, with a focus on the one that also went viral across SNS [both announcement and breakup]. Cole expressed different feelings for his past relationships, speaking about how he grew as an individual and learned to love himself. When speaking about the Look Both Ways star, he mentioned how even though their relationship was not the best, and ultimately ended – they are still friends and able to work together on the set of Riverdale.
Spectators, however, have called him a ‘pick me’ and said that he is still reaching for attention – using his co-star as a way to stay relevant. Let me say this again, Alex Cooper, comedy host of Call Her Daddy podcast, asked him. Question about his past relationships and he answered. In what way was he riding her coattails, and using her name to boost his when his fame has been active since he was a young boy on the show Friends. Do you remember Ross’ son Ben? (Does his work go before that? Maybe, but that is my earliest memory of him so I’m going with that.)
He was respectful, as he always has been, when speaking about all of his past and yet people have an issue with. Want to know what else people have an issue with? The way he talks. Yes, from his cadence and lilt to word usage and language.
Both Sprouse brothers graduated from New York University back in 2015; Dylan graduated with a focus in video game design while Cole completed his archaeology major. Both brothers are very educated men both academically, and one could argue streetwise. Growing up in the world of entertainment from such a young age, I’m sure both of them have learned a lot about themselves and the industry, as well as how they fit into said industry.
And even if they never did, even if Cole just got the same Word of The Day toilet paper that Chandler gifted Joey – he can’t speak eloquently? He can’t use words that are in the English dictionary – why, because a “majority” of others don’t use them in everyday speech? Or shall I say, the people who have sent hate towards Sprouse don’t seem to use them in everyday speech.
I would say this can result back to cancel culture, but it can even go beyond that and overlap with society as a whole – not just the internet. But let’s not go there, not today anyway.
Let’s just stop attacking people for the smallest things that one as an individual doesn’t relate to. In the words of Nene Leakes, “It’s getting weird.”