Hidden in plain sight, in the replies section for PEOPLE magazine’s tweet video, an account titled “@Team_Evans13” posted their “fan” letter to the “Captain America” star — only instead of showering him with praise, they expressed their disappointment.
The fan claimed Chris Evans “betrayed” his fandom for “lying” about being in a relationship with Alba Baptista.
“I have to start by clearing this up: your Fandom is not upset because you’re in a relationship,” the Evans fan wrote in the letter. “Rather, it was the reveal of your relationship that made us feel betrayed by you. We feel betrayed by the Chris you lead us to believe is you.” RELATED: Chris Evans’s Latest Instagram Post Fuels Dating Rumors With Portuguese Actress The lengthy letter from the self-revealed 30-year-old fan is filled with a mixture of support, disappointment, and an unhealthy amount of obsession. Though this is just one fan’s thoughts, the letter does reveal a darker side of celebrity fandoms. — Team Evans (@TeamEvans_13) November 14, 2022
Chris Evans’ fandom is rife with parasocial ideation.
A parasocial relationship happens when “one person extends emotional energy, interest and time, and the other party, the persona, is completely unaware of the other’s existence,” according to the National Register of Health Service Psychologists. “This sense of betrayal is not because you are in a relationship,” Evans’ fan wrote. “It is the rude awakening that our belief in you is based on nothing but lies that you’ve seen selling us.” Especially common with celebrities, like movie stars or musicians, parasocial relationships have become an increasingly problematic issue for famous people who just want to be left alone with their own private lives outside of the spotlight. Evans especially, for being one of the most famous movie stars on the planet thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has been successful when trying to keep his personal life private. It’s not that he doesn’t care about his fans, it’s just the fact that he’s his own human being who deserves his own privacy and, like you and me, don’t owe anything to anyone outside of basic human decency. Maybe he wasn’t ready to reveal his relationship with Alba Baptista to the world just yet, and that should be totally acceptable. RELATED: 6 Strict Rules Chris Evans Allegedly Makes His Girlfriends Follow
Fans should be supportive of their favorite celebrity’s privacy.
Back in 2020, when he accidentally leaked nude photos of himself to Instagram, it seemed like it was his fanbase’s turn to be the superhero and save him — flooding the “#ChrisEvans” hashtag with photos of him and his dog or with children or anything else that wasn’t his birthday suit. It seems like “Team Evans” has completely forgotten about respecting that privacy and went full-on parasocial — feeling entitled, as a fan, to know about his personal life and who he’s dating and when. — augSUSt @TWITCHCON (@DEEXNUT5) September 13, 2020 In the letter, they wrote that Evans “implied,” he was single, and therefore lied to his fans — whom he owes nothing. “Yes, you didn’t explicitly say you were single. But you sure did imply it,” they continued. “During your People interview, you once again implied you were single. The publication even reported that you were.” Although in some sections the fan wrote things like, “Realistically speaking, this should have no bearing on our lives as fans” and “Your relationship is really not our business,” the rest of the letter showed no indication that the fan truly felt this way. RELATED: Zac Efron Doesn’t Owe You His Personal Life — Actor Faces Backlash For Becoming Increasingly Private
People online weighed in on the entitled fan letter.
“I really hope Chris Evans doesn’t have to read that. That is terrifying,” one user wrote when the letter was reposted to Reddit. Some were fearful that the fan letter sounded stalker-ish, worried for Evans’ safety and well-being as reading something like that could be damaging. “People who are this invested in the lives of celebrities and/or strangers are absolutely insane and are a walking red flag,” wrote another user on Reddit. Some people joked about the situation, shrugging off the absurdity of it all. “Today I saw the weirdest thing I have seen on the internet yet, and it is this letter written to Chris Evans by some of his fans,” one person tweeted. “They should print this letter out and put it in a museum.” Evans hasn’t responded to the letter and it’s unlikely he ever will, but if he does end up reading it, it will likely join the long list of reasons he chooses to keep his personal life behind closed doors. RELATED: Parasocial Interactions: The Weird Reason You Feel Oddly Attached To Influencers Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.
