‘The bad TV boyfriend curse is very real, but the latest one is out of control.'

You'd have to be living under a rock to not have heard about Prime Video's book-to-TV series, The Summer I Turned Pretty.

The young romance is taking the world by storm but as the show leaps towards its big finale, the online discussions are only getting uglier.

Prime Video was even forced to issue a public statement addressing the online bullying directed at the cast, with a video titled: "The Summer We Started Acting Normal Online."

The streaming service previously posted on its official social channels, urging viewers to "keep the conversation kind." The producers of the series shared they had a "zero tolerance policy for bullying and hate speech."

@thesummeriturnedpretty

The show isn’t real but the people playing the characters are

♬ original sound - the summer i turned pretty

Reminder: this is a flirty teen show about two brothers, a girl and a beach house.

These kinds of warnings are typically only seen when it comes to reality TV shows. From Married At First Sight to Love Island, it's real people who are often harassed and trolled for their actions, but the vitriol being levelled at TSITP cast is something of an anomaly.

The final season has seen an unhinged response from the fanbase, with vitriol levelled at basically every actor on the show, but overwhelmingly being directed at Gavin Caselegno, who portrays one corner of the show's love triangle, Jeremiah.

This season, Lola Tung's Belly was engaged to Jeremiah, but his brother and her childhood sweetheart Conrad, played by Chris Briney, has been trying to win her back. Cue drama!

Watch the trailer for Season 3. Post continues after video.

The internet swiftly decided that Team Conrad is the only one worth rooting for.

Caselegno is well aware he's not the internet's preferred pick. The 25-year-old gave an interview to the New York Times and his takeaways were quite sad.

"I don't check Instagram anymore, so I really haven't seen that much hate," he said.

"I think it's important to also understand and realise that this is a fictional story – and it's also not me."

Casalegno has portrayed Jeremiah since the series debuted in 2021, but the actor hasn't copped this level of backlash until Season 3 started to air.

The reason for the hate campaign is twofold: the character of Jeremiah is inherently the lesser option of the brothers, and the books/show is not subtle about making it clear that Belly belongs with Conrad — especially in Season 3.

THE FREAKING DIFFERENCE GUYS #TheSummerITurnedPretty pic.twitter.com/1RY2sh63Dd

— ❱❱❱❱❱ ari's🏠×͜× 𓊍 beyond measure ༄ tsitp era; (@If1DCouldFlyy) August 27, 2025

Jeremiah often acts entitled, immature and volatile, plus who can forget that he cheated on Belly (well, kinda) and proposed as soon as she forgave him.

The hatred of Jeremiah would be one thing, but the character is often conflated with the actor himself.

Gavin is not particularly popular online. He is openly a devout Christian and frequently speaks about his faith on social media, which has been a point of contention for some online critics who are making assumptions about his political leanings.

In 2023, the actor was reportedly seen liking Instagram posts that have been described as anti-feminist and anti-vaccine, and he has allegedly shown support for transphobic content from Jordan Peterson.

#TheSummerITurnedPretty actor Gavin Casalegno trends after liking anti-feminist and pro anti-vaxx Instagram post:

“When you find out she's unvaxxed, not a feminist, loves the Lord, and aspires to be a wife, mother and homemaker.” pic.twitter.com/f76QARWqwC

— Pop Faction (@PopFactions) October 17, 2023

In an alleged comment in response, the actor said that he did not like the posts in question.

Interestingly, a lot of these posts date back several years. However, it wasn't until Season 3 of TSITP that the fanbase turned on the actor in a bigger way, suggesting that the character's not-so-great behaviour this season has played a part.

Then in July, Casalegno got into controversy over a line in an advert. "This tan? Genetics," he says in a Dunkin' Donuts ad, which critics have drawn comparisons with Sydney Sweeney's tone-deaf jeans campaign.

But when it comes to the internet, the actor can't do many things right.

By contrast, the actor who plays Conrad, Chris Brinley, can't do much wrong. Along with his character becoming one of the most beloved in TV history and a global symbol of yearning, a torrent of flattering videos of the actor are splashed across social media.

In many of the countless videos and fan edits, the clip's creator clearly seeks to make Gavin look bad and Chris look good.

@noothershadeofbluee

help they’re so funny #thesummeriturnedpretty #chrisbriney #gavincasalegno #foryou #taylorswift

♬ original sound - noothershadeofbluee

Then there's the speculation that while filming the show, there was drama between the three leads, suggesting there was a divide between Lola and Chris against Gavin.

This is based on, well… not much at all. Just bad vibes?

@theonly4youpage

like why are they looking at him like that… #creatorsearchinsights #GotIt #tsitp #teamconnie #teamconrad #gavincasalegno

♬ Got It - Ashwin Gane

These videos continue to attempt to especially stir up drama between the men, as in one People interview with the two actors, Chris jokes that Gavin gave a 'bad answer' to a question, which only added to the hate parade against him.

The Prime Video statement emphasised the distinction between the fictional characters and the real-life actors who portray them. "The show isn't real but the people playing the characters are," they stated.

But in the case of viral TV shows, it can be tough to separate the men from their characters. Toxic fandoms are often secluded in the music space, but TV fandoms can be equally passionate.

Of course, there's TV villains like Game of Thrones' psychopaths Joffrey and Ramsey. But these characters are often too fantastical for viewers to fully allow themselves to associate the men to the villains.

Listen to The Spill's host debate this. Post continues after podcast.

A genre of character that brings the most fury is arguably bad boyfriends because well, most of us can hard relate.

Whether it's Aleksandr Petrovsky from Sex and the City, Ross from Friends and Ted from How I Met Your Mother, these characters attracted more haters than admirers.

They're often part of a love triangle when the fans have a clear favourite pick — and a vocal least favourite.

But the bad boyfriend with the most obvious parallels to TSITP's Jeremiah is Dawson in Dawson's Creek.

these twins #thesummeriturnedpretty pic.twitter.com/aakg1oHq29

— iva (@dcisyjay) August 27, 2025

Portrayed by James Van Der Beek, the character was almost universally hated as Joey's sappy and selfish first love, compared unfavourably against the charming underdog, Pacey, portrayed by Joshua Jackson.

As a weekly Creek viewer, I remember the fans were obsessed with Joey and Pacey's friends-to-lovers dynamic and adorable banter, and most of the time, exhausted by poor ol' neurotic Dawson.

He might have been Joey's first crush, but most fans could agree that Joey and Pacey had far more on-screen chemistry (after all, the actors did date IRL), and Dawson was just a bit of a sook.

Even Van Der Beek has admitted he wouldn't be mates with the character. "Dawson was sweet, but would probably get on my nerves and end up as one of those people I found myself making excuses to not hang out with," he joked in a 2013 Paper Magazine interview.

When the show ended, Van Der Beek decided to leave his romantic roots and toxic 'nice guy' persona behind and immediately do a dark comedy.

"Doing The Rules of Attraction for me was almost like an exorcism," he told Vanity Fair in 2011.

"I would never want to play Dawson for the rest of my life... I was sick of that character."

In the years after Dawson's Creek ended, the actor opted for quirkier roles, playing a loser ex-boyfriend on How I Met Your Mother, a satirised version of himself in Don't Trust The B*tch In Apartment 23 and a serial killer in Criminal Minds.

But there was one distinction between Jeremiah and Dawson — fans didn't level so much of their hate at the actor, rather than the character.

At the time, Van der Beek was still something of a '90s heartthrob, even if he did fall out of Hollywood favour rather quickly, compared to Jackson's formidable career.

How could you NOT root for Joey and Pacey? Image: The WB Network.

But these hate campaigns are heightened when the viewership is a younger demographic — especially dominated by teen girls.

In 2019, actress Grace Saif seemingly quit social media after she was relentlessly bullied by 13 Reasons Why fans for her character, Ani Achola.

One of the show's stars, Timothy Granaderos Jr., spoke out on social media at the time. "PLEASE PLEASE try to be kind and respect the work of the talented actress/actor behind the character," he wrote on Instagram.

The same went for another teen drama with a young viewership, Riverdale, with the actress Vanessa Morgan receiving death threats over her character's storyline.

In the above two examples, the vitriol was launched at two women of colour on predominantly white shows, which is part of a larger worrying trend.

In the case of Gavin, carrying the hate of an entire fandom might be one too heavy to bear.

"I don't think there's a single human being in the world who can carry the emotional negativity to the degree that stuff like this happens," he told the NYT.

"I think that's why Amazon did a good job of stepping in and being like, 'Hey, no bullying.'

"Though, [it's] not really going so well."

Feature image: Prime Video/WB/HBO.