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The original was posted on /r/television by /u/Animeking1108 on 2024-07-03 14:39:35+00:00.

Celebrity guest stars come in too forms: they either play one-shot characters that the writers probably never intended to bring back, or they play themselves and the writers treat them like gods amongst men. The latter would very often lead to a mediocre ego trip for the celebrity. What are the worst examples you can think of?

For me, the iCarly episode iMeet Fred stands out. If you were on YouTube in the late '00s (aka, the good ole days when a YouTuber’s worst crime was being cringe), you might remember Fred. He was a 15-year-old boy whose schtick was pretending to be 5, talking with a sped up voice, and acting like a buffoon on camera. You’d be surprised that at one point in history, that guy was the most subscribed YouTuber, he had a trilogy of TV movies that were given theatrical releases in the UK, and he had a TV show. If you were old enough to have hair anywhere else besides your head at the time, you more likely despised Fred, mainly out of jealousy that such a simple concept ended up being a massive success. And back in the late '00s, if you were popular with a younger demographic, that meant you deserved to be fucking murdered for it, like the Jonas Brothers or Justin Bieber.

So, what I’m getting at is that Fred had a massive hatedom even back in the day. So, how was he portrayed in the iCarly episode where he guest starred? Well, he is depicted as this universally adored messiah, and when Freddie expressed distaste in his videos, people wanted him fucking lynched for it. This led to Lucas apparently quitting YouTube, which furthered hate for not only Freddie, but the rest of the iCarly gang too. So, they go to Lucas Cruikshank’s house to make amends and get him to calm his rabid fanbase down, but then they learn that he actually had no intention of quitting. He instigated this feud as a publicity stunt for both sides. Naturally, the iCarly gang kicks the living shit out of him for putting them through so much distress and harassment over a publicity stunt…

Which is what I would say if this episode operated on any realistic logic. No, Carly and Sam are actually thrilled that their views have gone up. So, all is good, right? Not quite. Lucas doesn’t agree to call off his fans until Freddie agrees that his videos are funny, and when Freddie rightfully refuses, Sam drags him away and brutally beats him half to death with a tennis racquet until he says he likes his videos. So, Freddie learns a valuable lesson in conformity, and all is good between both parties.