Cancelled? Disguised Toast pushes back against "toxic stan" culture

The life of a celebrity, minor or otherwise, in a world of social media, can be a weird one. Especially when your celebrity comes with its share of 'stans' -- a word reclaimed by mega fans of various personalities, from Arianna Grande to all those youngsters that roleplay in Minecraft.

Stans are usually harmless, sometimes they are a positive force, nothing more than a community with a shared interest who share content, memes, messages of support and more between its members. Other stans are toxic, the sharp edge of cancel culture, vicariously tearing through other groups, willing to do anything to 'win' internet beefs usually by digging up old tweets or clips, out of context and badly aged, and saying, "Hey, explain this?"

The latest personality to find himself grappling with stan culture is Offline TV's Jeremy "Disguised Toast" Wang, who in recent days has faced accusations, swirling around on sections of Twitter, that claim he is a racist, rape and paedophilia apologist, a sexist, and someone who feels that it's acceptable to use the term "r*tard" as a slur. It's a rap sheet that would silence most or force an apology, sincere or not, but Disgusted Toast is having none of it, claiming that such clips are being taken out of context.

In a statement released on 2nd May, Disguised Toast claims he felt compelled to reply, after a document of Disgusted Toast's seeming misdeeds began circulating on "Twitter stan" with some pressuring those in his professional circle to comment or distance themselves from him. 

"It has been brought to my attention that there are literally people crying about it, and even dragging the people I care about (namely my friends in OTV and Amigops) into it by pressuring them and condemning them for interacting with me," wrote Disguised Toast. "Shit on me all you want, but I always draw the line at attacking my friends."

In his statement, he then proceeds to push back against specific accusations, claiming that the clips, comments and jokes are being taken out of context. 

(Picture: Disgusted Toast)

Disguised Toast does concede that his statements are ignorant but that on a fundamental level, that is the point. Playing ignorant so others can correct him.

"Similar to Michael Scott's character from The Office or Joey from Friends - it's clear when they make ignorant remarks that they ARE ignorant remarks, and the reaction from the other characters make it clear on that.

Disguised Toast (second from the left) is part of OfflineTV which features creators such as Imane "Pokimane" Anys. (Picture: OfflineTV)

He also takes aim at parasocial relationships, the feeling that viewers and fans of celebrities feel that they know them personally. It's clear that Disguised Toast feels it has the potential to get toxic, and fast.

He said: "Stans will try their best to insert themselves into a streamer's life to an unhealthy point, that this person thinks that I, Disguised Toast, was talking about THEM, this special individual."

Disguised Toast ends his statement by saying he will somewhat curb his "edgy" humour going forward, but that fundamentally those that intend to take things out of context have their own agendas.

"I try to satirize in my content whenever I do make jokes rooted in racial or sexual nature. If you take it at face value, without context, without knowing me - I can understand why I might come off as a bigot. But even if you don't respect me, at least respect the opinion of the people around me, my peers, people who known me for years. Know that they wouldn't stand for any bigotry or racism or sexism because we hold each other to a very high standard."

Disguised Toast, who has been streaming since 2017 and has a deal with Facebook Gaming, has had huge success in recent months with his Among Us streams which regularly featured the good and the great of the streaming world including PewDiePie, JackSepticEye, Pokimane, and Valkyrae. He recently revealed that his Among Us days are over, seemingly in search of the next big thing.