If you watch “Orange is the New Black,” you probably have a love/hate relationship with officer John Bennett. He starts out cute, gets cuter when we learn he’s a veteran, hits the peak of cuteness when he proposes to Daya with a makeshift ring, and drops to scumbag level when he dips without explanation. He tugged at our heartstrings and sent us on an emotional roller coaster, but hey, so did pretty much every other character on the show.

Matt McGorry, the actor behind Bennett’s character, has recently received a ton of flack for his character’s flaws. His Instagram is constantly bombarded with “How could you?!” comments, because people are seriously that stupid. This Father’s Day was particularly rough, as he was once again bombarded by those who don’t register that he is not actually a correctional officer who knocked up an inmate and promised to build a life before promptly abandoning her and their unborn child. People gave him so much shit that he actually had to go so far as to verbally remind people that he is an actor who plays a fictional character.

Happy Fathers Day to all the real fathers out there! I am an actor and I play the fictional character John Bennett on the fictional television show entitled Orange Is The New Black. Here I am with actresses Dascha Polanco and Elizabeth Rodriguez who play make-believe mother-daughter characters named Dayanara and Aleida Diaz on the made up television program with me. They are not mother and Daugther in real life even though they and we play pretend characters that are sometimes even the opposite of who we are as real live people while not reflecting our real lives because it is not real. Moments before this photograph was taken I was even saying words that were written by another person, all the while pretending that my name was John Bennett and that his thoughts and actions were a result of my own brain! Weirdly, the words coming out of my mouth and the things I did in the story were not created by me at all! To make matters even more confusing, I am even dressed in fictional character John Bennett's costume (a costume is like fictional clothes) in this photograph that was taken on the television set and afterwards I went home to my apartment in New York City where I don't have a child because I'm not a father and have never worked in a prison and TV is not real life. #oitnb

A photo posted by Matt McGorry (@mattmcgorry) on Jun 21, 2015 at 9:20am PDT

Not gonna lie, I’m a little bit distraught about this. I don’t care if you’re a diehard OITNB fan; harassing an actor for the crimes of his fictional character isn’t just wrong, it’s also really fucking stupid. If you’re that pissed at the character, figure out a different way to express your anger. Send an angry letter to the writers, or take up boxing and glue Bennet’s face to a punching bag. McGorry is way too cute to put up with hermit shitheads who haven’t seen sunlight in days because they’ve spent every waking moment cooped up with their laptops, obsessing over season three and eating expired potato chips. Y’all need Jesus, or some type of TV-worthy intervention.

Sorry for your troubles, Matthew. I’m sure you’re a sweetheart IRL. .

[via Cosmopolitan]

Image via Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

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Lucky Jo

Lucky Jo is a former and current TSM writer who likes her men how she likes her coffee: way too hot and unforgivably bitter. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 2016, proving that C's do in fact get degrees. She now spends her days working for a social media marketing agency, hiking with her dachshund, and trying to bring back the scrunchie. Hate mail and goat memes can be sent to [email protected].

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