Barry Keoghan deactivated his Instagram after fans harassed him over his breakup

I started out amused at Barry Keoghan & Sabrina Carpenter’s cheating/breakup drama, but now I’m sort of disgusted by how far it’s gone. There were widespread social media rumors about Barry cheating on Sabrina with a then-unnamed influencer and social media personality. The influencer was later identified as Breckie Hill, someone well-known to Gen Z but completely unknown to me. Sabrina apparently broke up with Barry over these rumors, or maybe she had evidence that he actually cheated. Whatever it was, they were over after a year of dating. Over the weekend, Breckie Hill completely denied the cheating allegations. Something else happened this weekend: Barry deactivated his Instagram, and then released this statement on Twitter:

Typos aside, Barry is basically like… all of this has gone way too far. People are talking sh-t about his family, including his very young son. People are knocking on his grandmother’s door. People are commenting sh-t about his dead mother. I absolutely agree with Barry that it has gone way too far. The hardcore fans need to chill the f–k out. This could have been a fun gossip story about two adults and a messy breakup. People went crazy. This isn’t even parasocial, it’s just young fans having zero boundaries or couth.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

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10 Responses to “Barry Keoghan deactivated his Instagram after fans harassed him over his breakup”

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  1. Charlotte says:

    That “fans” know Barry Keoghan’s story of abuse and neglect and coming up rough and expect him to not be a superbly talented, utterly broken dude? Guy is great at what he does, hot as hell, and a fucking mess.

  2. sevenblue says:

    I think, that influencer was enjoying the attention, sharing the articles. So, people took it as a confirmation. All of this was started by Deuxmoi, she didn’t even name the influencer. People threw names out there and that influencer took the attention bait. Maybe she got a call from Barry’s team? It is scary that people are literally going to his grandmother’s house, to his child’s house. What the f*ck is that? They got good publicity with their relationship, but it is never worth it to feed parasocial fans. People were used to harass the actors because of the character they were playing. Now, it is like their real life turned into entertainment thanks to social media, which seems worse.

    • Jaisi says:

      Yeah, I’m confused bc I thought that the Breckie girl was insinuating that there was validity to the rumors? Now she’s saying she never met him? So she was just fueling the rumor fire? Messy. Idk, I have a soft spot for Barry. Not saying he’s a perfect person but I wish him well and hope he’s being there for her kid.

  3. HeatherC says:

    I know fan is short for fanatic but for the love of all that’s good, people need to calm TF down over people they don’t even know. This is what makes entertainers less inclined to interact with their fans, for who knows what this will lead to?

    • Nanea says:

      It has already lead to murder: Selena Quintanilla and John Lennon being two examples I can think of right now.

      • HeatherC says:

        I remember Rebecca Schaeffer because I loved that sitcom My Sister Sam. I can understand celebrities being leery of fans because of this and limit interactions with them. I would. Heck our (then) president was shot because a nutjob wanted Jodie Foster’s attention! So when I hear people say oh they don’t respect their fans (interact with them), can you really blame them for not?

  4. Dee(2) says:

    This is why I just can’t get behind social media. It has created too much of a separation of interpersonal interactions and people just behave in ways that I can’t believe they would if it wasn’t for that dopamine bit of likes and views. I understand how influential it has been and how it has given voices to marginalized people, but they’re way too many stories like this on the flip side of not even celebrities but just random people being harassed because people can’t make a separation between reality and carefully crafted images. Literally leaving your house to go to someone else’s house to harass them about a person that you don’t know is bonkers behavior. The nature of these parasocial relationships are just so bizarre to me. I’m a fan of certain celebrities, and I hope the best for them. But I don’t know them. They don’t need me to defend them, and I’m not aware of everything that goes on in the background of their lives.

  5. KS says:

    This is why it’s crazy to me that people were acting like Chappell Roan was being a whiny brat for asking people for some boundaries. A lot of people out there have completely lost the plot.

  6. VilleRose says:

    Wtf? Even if he did cheat on her, it’s really no one’s business but their own. And it doesn’t entitle people to harass Barry’s family, online or in real life. And it looks like here there is zero truth to the rumors at all with this influencer Breckie Hill.

  7. BQM says:

    Chris Evans, Taron egerton, Tom holland and others have either gotten off social media or drastically reduced it specifically because of the effect on their mental health. And it chiefly involves comments about their partners, or themselves in regard to their partners, that are just so ugly and toxic. People can just be deranged.