17 "Glorified" TV Characters Who Are Actually Toxic, Problematic, And Kinda Just Awful
A while back, we wrote a post where people shared the TV and movie characters who should stop being glorified. In the comments, readers from the BuzzFeed Community chimed in with a ton of popular TV characters who are actually awful. Here are the eye-opening results:
Some responses were pulled from this Reddit thread by u/TourSignificant1335.
🚨 Some spoilers ahead! 🚨
Warning: This post contains mentions of sexual assault and drug use.
1.Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City
"Carrie is the narcissist of the show, and Samantha is the best. Carrie cheating on Aidan for the awful Mr. Big made me realize how much she placed herself first. And let’s not forget the episode where she yelled at Charlotte for not giving her money to cover her financial mistake."
—Anonymous
"All but Samantha are terrible, but Carrie is the worst because the show glorifies her introspection — but it's all pointless navel-gazing."
2.Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl
"Literally every character from Gossip Girl, but mostly Chuck Bass. He's a rapist (first episode), womanizer, and very toxic. But because he has a thing with Blair, everyone wants their own Chuck."
3.Dexter Morgan from Dexter
"He doesn’t just kill bad people. He is willing to kill innocent people to keep from being caught."
"I just started watching the show, and I'm enjoying it, but Dexter is a terrible person. And his dad was worse. Like, don’t encourage a kid to become a serial killer of ‘evil’ people. Get him therapy!"
4.Regina Mills from Once Upon a Time
"She is awful. They give her a big arc where she's good to try and make you feel sorry for her by the end. I'm sorry, but no way would I forgive her for what she did to everyone; they didn't focus much on the emotion of the truly awful acts she committed — like, gaslighting a child who needs therapy after being stolen and lied to his whole life."
5.Dr. House from House
"The dude is a complete a-hole to everybody all the time, and people look up to him?"
"His constant and extreme sexual harassment toward Cuddy made me really uncomfortable as a teen/young adult. Like, she's your boss, dude. She's good enough at her job that she's running that whole hospital, and you talk to her like she's both the head hippie at Homeopaths-R-US AND your personal sex worker. That dynamic made me angry,"
6.Jim Halpert from The Office
"Jim Halpert isn't a lovable, quirky scamp; he's a narcissist. He bullies Dwight, is condescending to absolutely everyone, and treats every woman he's with like a doormat. He makes huge life decisions without consulting his wife, then leaves her holding the bag with the kids, and demands total support in HIS venture — even after refusing to support Pam in hers. He's a total 'nice guy' son of a b*tch."
7.The characters from The Wire
"Just about anyone from The Wire. It's a brilliant, brilliant series, which I'm in awe of, but anyone wanting to emulate most of the characters needs to think seriously about their life."
8.Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty
"He's a self-destructive abusive jerk who only gets away with it because he's smart enough to kill anyone who tries to stop him. The show is funny, but Rick is a terrible person."
"The dude abandoned his family several times, abuses everyone he (seemingly) cares about, does awful things just to prove a point — knowing full well that the consequences are going to be terrible — puts his family in danger on purpose numerous times, and is able to get away with it with fans simply because he’s a genius but depressed badass scientist who has a depressing backstory. The show creators tried their hardest to show that you shouldn’t be excusing his actions and simping for him, but people do it anyways. He’s fantastic character, but an awful person."
9.Don Draper from Mad Men
"I think only wannabe big shot people idolize Don Draper for his incredible skill in marketing and scoring. If you're serious, you gotta realize that he's too close to really blowing up his whole life beyond repair. I guess the majority just loves watching Jon Hamm in '50s cosplay. And I don't blame them. One episode, and I wanna go get a suit, cigarettes, and a caddy."
"There are a lot of characters like him: Broken successful men who will do anything they want regardless of how it affects others, slowly having their world collapse. These characters always get a huge fanbase of people not getting the point. See also Tony Soprano, Tony Montana, and so on. Some people react to characters like this by thinking, 'It's so cool how he does whatever he wants' and miss the entire point. Draper, Soprano, and Montana are supposed to be tragic figures, but a lot of people cant see past the immediate facade."
10.Barry Allen (aka, The Flash) from The CW's The Flash
"For a dude who can supposedly do genius science with the best of them, he sure makes a LOT of dumb choices."
"In the first and second season, it felt like Barry was actually somewhat smart and the plot made sense. After that, it got progressively more cringe, and now, he does not feel like a superhero — he's more like a clown from the few scenes I've seen. The whole show turned into a comedy drama show."
11.BoJack Horseman from BoJack Horseman
"BoJack Horseman, because people are really missing the point of the show when they compare themselves to him."
—Anonymous
"Nobody should want to be BoJack! The whole point of his character is that he is a broken POS. He’s emotionally abusive and distant, a constant enabler who got his child coworker into a life of drugs, and then when she was clean, got her back onto them, and she overdosed. He nearly stalked an old love who was married, and when he couldn’t be with her, he tried to bang her 17-year-old daughter instead. Then, he stalked her across the country with his old coworker during the bender that killed her. The point is that no matter how broken he is, he is slowly trying to become a better person. But it says a lot about a person if they can see themselves in BoJack."
12.Hannibal Lecter from Hannibal
"People seem to romanticize his little fancy traits."
"It's his personality. I knew he was a cannibal going into the series, but literally as soon as I encountered him on the page in The Silence of the Lambs, I was like, 'Oh this guy's charming AF.' I didn't like how his character developed in the later books, but I bet Clarice must be having the time of her life with him."
13.Thomas Shelby from Peaky Blinders
"He’s a good antihero, but he’s still a ruthless, murdering psychopath."
14.Negan Smith from The Walking Dead
"Out of all the awful things that man did, I can't believe people actually defend him. If you give a woman the choice of either sleeping with you or dying from a lack of insulin, you're a rapist. If she has the choice of either sleeping with you or having someone she loves murdered, you're still a rapist."
15.Peter III from The Great
"If you haven’t seen The Great, please do. It’s on Hulu, and it is gripping. Peter is a really hot guy who is horrifyingly violent. He's not a man you would want to be married to."
16.Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
"Besides the violent sexual assault, this guy is a walking red flag, and the way people excuse and glorify everything he does is genuinely disgusting."
And finally...
17.The characters from Friends
"Every character from the core group in Friends. They're all terrible people. They're self-absorbed, entitled narcissists who just use people and do awful things to each other and people around them. I've never understood the love for them."
Who are some other popular TV (or movie) characters who people shouldn't glorify? Let us know in the comments below.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
