Michael Slavin
Pedro Pascal fans have been shocked by a bizarre new trend on social media which some are calling a ‘smear campaign’.
The actor is currently starring in three different films in cinema, appearing in Materialists, Eddington, and most notably Marvel's The Fantastic 4: First Steps.
Starring as Reed Richards, the MCU film sees him appear alongside a star-studded cast, most notably Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn.
Fans watching the film’s press run, however, have noted Pascal and Kirby’s close friendship, with the pair regularly being seen holding hands and being very comfortable with one another.
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Playing husband and wife in the film, a video from Hall H in Comic-Con last year went viral when he was shown grabbing her hand on stage.
Pascal later revealed in an interview that he would sometimes use physical touch as a way of coping with anxiety in certain situations, telling Men’s Health: “I was always one to reach out when I’m facing something that is challenging or making me anxious.”
Whilst this was largely seen as a positive thing when it went viral last year, this has shifted somewhat, with several viral tweets now calling it out.
One video of Pascal and Kirby in which he held onto her arm during a photoshoot saw noted Anti-Trans activist Posie Parker saying: “He never gets the anxiety gropes around men, does he?!”
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Fans on Twitter laid into Parker for this, with one viral tweet saying: “It's almost like two friends who played a couple for more than a year in a film and then in press have developed a certain level of physical affection for one another. Go make friends IRL!”
Others have pointed out that Pascal has been shown to be similarly close with several of his male co-stars, most notably his close friend Oscar Isaac.
The narrative has clearly taken hold on X, however, with one AI video going viral of Pascal leering at female co-stars and kissing them as they look visibly uncomfortable.
The video was, of course, a deepfake and therefore not real, leading fans to question the motivation behind what many called a ‘smear campaign’ against Pascal.
Many pointed to videos where, without Pascal’s prompting, Kirby shows him similar physical affection.
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One post quoting the AI video, in which a deepfake version of Pascal kisses Kirby multiple times, says: “F*ck AI, f*ck the people who use it for their hate campaigns against people who have done absolutely nothing wrong, and f*ck this cesspool of an app and who owns it for letting people do it.”
Another fan posted: "The Pedro Pascal hate campaign that suddenly sprung up over night has got to be the most obviously coordinated and botted attack I've ever seen."
One fan quoted screenshots of accounts accusing Pascal of ‘groping’ co-stars saying: “I know an artificial smear campaign when I see one — and Pedro Pascal is being targeted.
"Probably because he’s so well-loved by so many, and an advocate for trans rights.”
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Pascal has been an outspoken defender of the transgender community, with his sister Lux Pascal, a transgender woman, saying of him when she came out: “He has been an important part of this. He is also an artist and has been a guide. He was one of the first to give me the things that formed my identity.”
LADbible has contacted Pascal's reps for comment.