Lately, there has been an internet trend where actresses have been receiving unjustified hate due to their appearances. Whereas men who are deemed not conventionally attractive are praised for representing non-conventionally attractive people in the media. As of today, three actors have been receiving extreme criticism for their appearances after appearing in popular TV-shows in 2025.
Aimee Lou Wood
Aimee Lou Wood gained a large following after her role in the hit HBO dark comedy series “The White Lotus.” Despite the praise for her performance, the public made fun of her because of her teeth. The bullying was taken to an extreme when “Saturday Night Live” aired a sketch titled “The White Potus,” which had actress Sarah Sherman portraying her character, Chelsea, with teeth prosthetics.
The portrayal done by Sherman was widely panned for mocking Wood’s appearance. Wood responded to the sketch describing it as “unfunny.” Since then, Sherman has issued an apology to Wood and has defended her publicly against the bullying.
Bella Ramsey
*Ramsey has stated they go by all pronouns, therefore, they/them pronouns will be used accordingly.
When Bella Ramsey was cast as Ellie in HBO’s adaptation of “The Last Of Us,” they received extreme backlash from fans of the game. Fans stated Ramsey was too ugly to play Ellie and that they look nothing like the character’s original design from the game. Even though Ellie being attractive has nothing to do with the game’s story, fans continued to criticize Ramsey’s appearance.
Recently, the show released its second season where fans have started slang terms to insult Ramsey such as “the chopped of us.” Chopped is a Gen Z slang term that refers to a person who is deemed unattractive. “The Last Of Us”s social media pages are populated with these comments about Ramsey’s appearance. Audience should not be concerned with the attractiveness of a character who is 14 years old when we meet her which further exemplifies areas of society that need to be improved. As a result of the continued backlash, Ramsey has deleted their social media pages.
Madeline Brewer
Madeline Brewer’s portrayal of Bronte in season 5 of Netflix’s “You” has garnered attention for all the wrong reasons. Audiences started to pick Brewer apart simply because they do not like her character. They have expressed that Bronte is annoying and unlikeable, making the last season of “You” less enjoyable. All of these things are about her character not Brewer. Now it’s okay to dislike her character. The main problem would be that people are unable to separate fiction from reality, which seems to be the answer to this equation.
Fans have blamed their dislike of the ending of season 5 on Brewer specifically even though she didn’t help with the writing on the show, she just acted in it.
On social media, Brewer received the nickname “Rumplestiltskin” in reference to her appearance which is unjustified considering the circumstances. In response to the backlash, Brewer has stated that she struggles to watch herself in “You” because of the consistent criticism she has received.
TV shows are a form of entertainment that are meant to engage the audience in the story, with its compelling characters and storytelling. They are not supposed to be open dialogues for criticism of actresses’ appearances. Why are these audiences continuing to consume these shows when they have such a problem with the appearances of these actresses?
