Beyonce Stans Force Writer Dream Hampton To Quit Twitter, After Posting Hateful Messages About Daughter
When stanning goes too far. Tuesday night, one of my favorite “tweeters”, writer/hip-hop journalist Dream Hampton (she’s well known for writing Jay-Z’s “Decoded”, as well as her work in The Source, Spin, Vibe, along w/ with her close relationship with the late Christopher Wallace, etc.), made a Twitter Service Announcement (TSA), sharing that she was quitting twitter. Why you ask? In short, Dream had posted a photo that she had snapped of her daughter Nina and Beyonce backstage at her Revel concert (see above). A Beyonce fan found the photo, tweeted it and made negative comment about Nina’s appearance. That photo and tweet, began spiraling when other Beyonce fans and stans commented on how unattractive Dream’s daughter was, one even calling her ugly. In a series of tweets, Dream explains the entire story, ending it with explaining why she’s decided to throw up her middle finger and exit stage left. She wrote:
Because someone tumbld a pic of my daughter w/Bey, which I posted on FB, which I try to keep private, I’m now dealing w/tweets like these…These are early 20 something Beyonce stans coming for my teenager. I’m done here. It’s been real. Let me shut down this Twitter account. I’ve been wanting to for a while. It’s been real. I posted a pic of my daughter & our friend Beyonce on my very private Facebook page. Everyday, I turn down “friend” requests on FB. I turn them down because I post pics of my daughter on FB for ramily and friends I actually know. Twitter is a more public space for me. On Twitter, I refer to my daughter as “awesome daughter” because she is, and because I’m private. I don’t know if I don’t know how to set whatever new privcacy settings you have to set on Facebook, but that pic ended up on a tumblr. I don’t search tumblr, or even know if you can search tumblr, but I Twitter search my own name pretty frequently at least twice a week… Last night, after tweeting abt summer reading lists & the challenging day I had to face today, I searched my name on Twitter. What I found was a Bey “stan” page who’d tweeted the pic of my daughter and Bey from some other Bey “stan” tumblr w/the comment “ewww”…This Twitter Bey stan latter reposted the same pic on Twitter w/my daughter cropped out, then RT’d s’one’s comment abt being grateful+..”ugly girl” was cropped out. I tweeted this Beyonce “stan” asking how the fuk they got the pic (I hadnt made the connection to the tumblr) + …and asked them to remove the pic. This stan, of course, RT’d my irate tweet, tweeted she was dying of laughter & a bunch of her 7K + …fellow stans tweeted me. One began following me and when I immediately blocked her, called my daughter an Ugly ass in all caps. For those of you who know me, you know I’m not really here for you to be tweeting me, in all kaps, what an ugly ass my child is. Like, I’m really not here for that. I talked to Beyonce after her last show last night, we were worried Nina would see Beyonce’s so called fans calling a teenager ugly and Bey+ decided to remind my daughter what she thinks of her. So Bey posted the pic of my daughter & her on her tumblr & wrote “beautiful princess”…I’ve made amazing connections on Twitter, have been intellectually stimulated and have discovered amazing thinkers. But yes, I’m done. My leaving Twitter is not blog worthy. I wasn’t “run off” by a few people calling themselves Beyonce stans. Or whatever. But I am good on social media, and the access it affords nuts, and the false intimacy that created boundary crossing. I’ve had false Twitter exits before, this isn’t one of them. Wishing you all love. I’m so grateful for all these replies. Twitter has always been more loving than hateful, but more distracting than anything. For the last time…I’m not leaving Twitter because I was ran off. The shit is turning into Myspace and I’m good. Ok, Peace. Free Mumia.
Do you think Dream’s reasons for leaving twitter were warranted? And should Beyonce intervene and tell her fans and stans to have a seat? P.S. Ain’t Nina gorgeous though? My momma’s standing over my shoulder like, “That’s a cute girl, what happened?”