An actor has spoken out about the dark side of internet fame – revealing she was once trolled so badly that she had to change her name.
Star Stone, from New York, says she was targeted by over 200,000 comments after being edited as the “villain” in a viral YouTube video.
She starred in a series called Odd Man Out: Vegans versus Meat Eaters, which consisted of six vegan contestants trying to find the secret meat eater amongst them for a cash prize.
After receiving a whopping 17 million views, hundreds of thousands of commenters took to leaving hateful messages aimed at Star and her questioning tactics.
The actor says that the abuse spread across all platforms with her receiving messages and comments on TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, and on her poetry book listing on Amazon
With over five years of bullying, Star says her mental health took a serious hit.
She said: “People stalked, harassed, and cyberbullied me for five years. It made me question my identity and affected my mental health.
“Anything you could imagine that would be hurtful was said to me.”
Star says that when the video first went live and she saw the way she was portrayed, she immediately called the producers but they were not able to provide support.
She claims that the company would only restrict certain words in the comment section but refused to take down the video.
The production company were approached for comment.
The actor says that she deleted all of her social media to try and put a stop to the hate – but nothing seemed to work.
She said: “When I deleted my social media, the video was still being reposted and shared and commented on.
“That’s the thing about social media is that once something is online it can live forever.
“So, even without access to it, people still messaged me on different platforms and recognized me in person- which still happens now and it’s been 6 years.
“It was very alarming at first to see how passionate people were about this video and how far the audience reach was.”
On why it was that she received so much hate, Star thinks this could be due to “mob mentality.”
But she also suspects that some of it may be rooted in misogyny.
She added: “I think that we are still uncomfortable with women displaying competitive behavior with men.
“In my case, I think that because I was competitive and wanted to win, my behavior is typically something we associate with men.
“I just wonder if a man had done the exact same thing as me, would he have received hate or would he be praised for playing a good game?”
Now, Star has decided to use her experience in a positive way- by writing a one woman multimedia comedy show called Villain Era.
The show, which is directed by Ryan Cunningham, premiered in New York in 2024 and was very popular at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last summer.
Featuring real comments and clips from the viral video, Star says that her performance aims to show the funny side to all that happened to her.
Audience reactions so far include tears and laughter- but mostly disbelief that all the events truly happened.
Star said: “This video is about finding someone who isn’t vegan, it was silly and should have been funny. The fact that people took it so far and were so serious about it, you just have to find the humor in it.
“If you can laugh at yourself and see the silliness and ridiculousness of any situation then you have won.
“I hope that this show can have a positive impact on a lot of people and change the dialogue around going viral, cancel culture, and being bullied online.
“My director says comedy is trauma plus time, and I think it’s important to find humor even in challenges.
“I hope to help others who have gone through this by sharing this show and continuing to talk about it.”
The show is now set to make its London premiere at the Bread and Roses Theatre in Clapham on June 8 and 9.
