Pedro Pascal's sudden downfall follows a pattern. But this time it's different.

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It starts the same way every time.

We fall in love. As a collective internet, we crown a new celebrity darling. We obsess. We meme. We make thirsty edits and buy the magazine covers and comment "king" on every Instagram post. We say things like "he's the internet's boyfriend" or "she and I would totally be besties."

And then — without warning, but somehow always right on time — we turn on them.

Right now, that person is Pedro Pascal.

Listen: Laura Brodnik and Ksenija Lukich discuss the Pedro Pascal backlash on The Spill. Post continues below.

The same Pedro Pascal who made us sob in The Last of Us. The same Pedro Pascal we declared a "zaddy" in every comment section. The same Pedro Pascal whose red carpet affection for co-stars once made us collectively scream "I want what they have!"

Apparently, we're now… over it.

In recent weeks, his name has started appearing alongside words like "overrated" and "creepy." Fans (read: strangers on the internet) began dissecting how he hugs his co-stars. How often he touches their arms. Whether the emotional availability that once made him beloved now reads as fake. Performative. Calculated.

His physical affection for his Fantastic Four co-star Vanessa Kirby is "too much." Never mind that she looks perfectly comfortable. Never mind that there have been zero complaints from anyone involved. The court of public opinion has watched three TikToks and a red carpet interview and decided: he's doing too much.

Pedro Pascal has officially entered his backlash era.

If this all sounds familiar, it's because we've done it before. Over and over. Especially to women.

We loved Jennifer Lawrence… until we didn't. 'America's Cool Girl' tripped at the Oscars, made a few too many "relatable girl" jokes and suddenly the world decided she was fake and annoying. 

Anne Hathaway won an Academy Award, gave a polished speech and was immediately branded "too theatre kid," "too rehearsed," "too smug".

Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway have both fallen victim to this phenomenon. Image: Getty.

Taylor Swift has cycled through this loop multiple times. Each reinvention is met first with adoration, then with vitriol. She was too sweet, then too petty, then too controlling, then — the ultimate sin — too proud of her own work.

Amy Schumer went from refreshing and raunchy to "too loud" in record time. Meghan Markle… well, we all know how that went.

The list is long, but the pattern is always the same: once someone — especially a woman — is everywhere, we start to resent them for it. Their openness becomes grating, their confidence becomes smug and we decide their charm is obviously one big performance.

We ask for authenticity and vulnerability from our celebrities. But the second they offer too much of it — or we simply get bored — we weaponise their personalities against them.

But Pedro Pascal isn't a woman. And that's why this moment feels… different.

The traits he's being criticised for — softness, emotion, physical warmth — are rarely granted to men in Hollywood, let alone celebrated.

He's not the first man to fall victim to overexposure, of course. We saw it with Chris Pratt — though in his case, there were some legitimate concerns (awkward divorce PR, weird Instagram captions, questionable politics).

But Pedro? There's no scandal. He is not doing anything wrong. His co-stars aren't recoiling from his affection. Vanessa Kirby seems perfectly fine with the way he leans into her shoulder. He's not dating teenagers or selling dodgy supplements. He's just promoting a movie while being his usual, emotionally fluent, slightly anxious, Latin American theatre kid self.

Pedro has been criticised for his physical "closeness" to his co-stars. Image: Getty.

Why do we insist on turning warmth into something sinister? Why do we build people up just to tear them down?

The truth is, no celebrity can stay the internet's darling forever, but the speed at which Pedro Pascal's glow-up became a backlash is deeply depressing. And the fact that we're applying the same tired "he's fake" narrative we've used against women for years says more about us than it does about him.

Let the man enjoy his moment. He spent decades grinding in minor roles. He didn't get his big break until his forties. He has earned every second of this spotlight — and if his biggest crime is being a little too huggy with his friends, then I think we'll survive.

Pedro Pascal is an actor on a press tour. A man doing his job. So before we spiral into a full-blown cancellation arc over hand-holding — let's just take a collective sip of water and log off.

Let Pedro Pascal be emotional. Let him be soft. Let him be too much. Because honestly? It's a hell of a lot better than not enough. 

Feature image: Getty.