Josh Hutcherson claims Taylor Swift's fans threatened to 'destroy' him
The Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson claims Taylor Swift's fans threatened to "destroy" him after he admitted he wasn't a fan of her music.
Josh Hutcherson claims Taylor Swift's fans threatened to "destroy" him after he admitted he wasn't a fan of her music.
The Hunger Games star confessed he's not a "Swiftie" during a photoshoot with his I Love LA costar Jordan Firstman and he's revealed the admission led to him being viciously trolled by Taylor's ardent followers.
In an interview with GQ Hype, Josh explained: "I got some heat because I did a photo shoot with Jordan, and Jordan asked me something about being a [Taylor Swift fan], and I was like: 'Oh no, I’m definitely not a Swiftie'.
"All of a sudden it garnered this: 'F*** him! He’s a monster! Destroy him! He’s short! He hates her because he’s short!'
"It’s just like, whoa! I think she’s great. Her music is not my kind of music."
Josh went on to reveal experience with Taylor fans underlines why he doesn't want to use social media, adding: "That is why I don’t want to be online. I don’t need that energy".
The actor also insisted he wants to keep much of his life private to make his onscreen characters more believable. He told the publication: "[Social media is] counterintuitive to my job, because if people know you more, you can’t disappear into characters.
"They see you as: 'Oh, that’s Josh.' You know what I mean? So, if you’re a f****** meme, people know you for the meme."
It comes after Josh admitted he didn't experience "rejection" in Hollywood until after The Hunger Games.
The 33-year-old star - who was 18 when he was cast as Peeta Mellark opposite Jennifer Lawrence's Katness Everdeen - admitted it was only after the fourth movie in the original series that he started to learn about how difficult the film industry can be.
He told the Dinner's On Me podcast: “I didn’t learn rejection ever. "I knew only success from the age nine to, like, 24, then kind of post Hunger Games world. Because Hunger Games set things up.
"The industry is so goddamn tricky because they set you up in this way where they’re like, ‘You’ve arrived. You now are working with Jennifer Lawrence and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and you’re in this movie that makes billions of dollars, you’re the second lead of the film.' "
Before The Hunger Games, Josh appeared in the likes of Little Manhattan, Zuthura: A Space Adventure, Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Kids Are All Right.
He insisted that as "quickly as they're excited to get you into the spotlight", those opportunities fade.
Josh was around 25 years old when he first felt "disappointment, failure [and] rejection" as he struggled to land any roles.
He said: "It was just like a string of no one calling, not getting any offers, auditioning, but not getting cast.
"It’s this whole thing of, ‘Oh wow, I have my career that I’ve had since I was 9 years old. It’s always worked. I always got cast.’
"Of course, there are things that you don’t get cast in, but I had only known that the chances are, if I was auditioning, was going to book it. That is just not the reality at all."
