If I say "Travis Aaron Wade is stalking fans", I know what your first reaction might be. "Who?" That's a fair reaction. Forty year old Travis Aaron Wade has the typical IMDB credits of a working actor you probably haven't heard of. Some roles in film shorts no one's heard of, guest star spots of police procedurals, the usual. His most notable role has been on Supernatural, four episodes in the show's tenth season where he played twenty-four(!) year old Cole Trenton, a former Marine with an ax to grind against Dean Winchester.
The character and the actor have gained some popularity over the past year and a half, with Wade being added to conventions and gaining a following on Twitter.
Recently, there have been fans coming forward to share accounts of inappropriate behavior, harassment, and stalking from Wade. He decries their words as those of liars and haters. Many fans of his are repeating these sentiments, that everything coming out about him is a lie, that he is a good guy that would never do the things being said. You be the judge.
Since everyone wants to call me a lair when they don't know what happened, here's what ACTUALLY happened. pic.twitter.com/R6ranqLpbb
— ash (@AshHawkshadow) January 5, 2016
People are sharing their encounters with TAW, given fans have been intimidated into being quiet. This is mine. pic.twitter.com/gdGu66n1XI
— Exorcising Emily (@exorcisingemily) April 25, 2016
(For further reading + screencaps/photos of Emily's interactions with him, check out her post HERE. I very much recommend browsing that post, it gives a very clear picture of what can only be described as stalking behavior.)
Ok it's time for this pic.twitter.com/CEC8LW3YNh
— michele (@bedofroses2001) April 24, 2016
(Note: OTW is a fandom nickname, meaning Original T-Wadesters)
(Note: The nicknames thing. It became clear to many fans that if you mentioned Travis Aaron Wade in a negative light on twitter, whether you tagged his username or not, he would find out and block you. People that posted negative things about him and used his full name or his initials of TAW would often find themselves blocked, despite not having contacted him directly. Fans adopted a "game" of sorts, coming up with silly nicknames to use that he wouldn't know to search. People called him things like Marty McThreenames, Doucherooster, Mayo, and would use his initials to form silly names. TAW became things like "Tweeting And Whining", "Tainted Anal Warts", "Totally A Whacko", you get the idea. He found out about some of this and made a post on twitter/instagram referencing it.
So today I heard I have several nicknames from a small fee in this fandom #douchestache… https://t.co/jnsKgWG73n
— Travis Aaron Wade (@TravisAaronWade) April 19, 2016
It was around this time that I personally abandoned the nickname game and used his full name in my tweets about him, while still never tagging his account. Within a few days, I was blocked.)
Continuing with Stacy's twitter thread:
(Thread is here, it's just messy to read in twitter's layout form.)
my story on Travis Aaron Wade. I'm so proud of everyone who has come forward. It's so courageous and brave. pic.twitter.com/aPXEBfS3DF
— Lorraine ✨ (@natasharcmanova) April 26, 2016
I think it's important that I share my story, lending my voice to so many others in this fandom. pic.twitter.com/ss85yE0j18
— Jackie #TalkNerdy (@JackieBojarski) April 26, 2016
(Note: The "hacking incident" is a whole other ball of wax where some increasingly bizarre tweets were coming from his account over the summer. He started by saying questionable things about people with mental illness and whether or not medication was helpful. Then he got into arguments with fans. Then he started claiming he would be letting the cast know how rude their fans were. Eventually the person tweeting from his account claimed to be a hacker, Travis claimed to go to the police over it.
(Thread here.)
no matter what he may say, totally fine to share with all of you. pic.twitter.com/4KWyAkdj7n
— Jessica Prism Power! (@tehjessicarae) April 26, 2016
and a few more. So that's my story re Travis. pic.twitter.com/TZ4JaGAveg
— Jessica Prism Power! (@tehjessicarae) April 26, 2016
You can read more about that here and here. As a bonus, here's that same user with a few more screencaps of Travis behaving inappropriately, though unrelated to the hacking incident.)
This is my TAW experience (I screen recorded the opening of the snapchats so you can dm me for them) pic.twitter.com/ImDW63jmbI
— Lexi (@LexiCooperXO) April 26, 2016
This is my photo vs. His of confirming it's his account pic.twitter.com/OwGKX1fRS4
— Lexi (@LexiCooperXO) April 26, 2016
I know the Supernatural fandom's history. I'm part of the fandom. Hate campaigns and lies are unfortunately part of the package, but an important thing to consider here is that the fans tweeting him are from very different sections of the fandom. As in separate "we don't like each other" sections. If you're familiar with the Supernatural fandom at all, I can put it in terms like this. Hardcore Sam/Dean fans and hardcore Castiel fans that normally would agree on exactly nothing are represented in the tweets in this post. This isn't a group of friends colluding, some of these people don't even like each other, and they're all saying the same thing. And don't forget, some of them brought receipts.
What does Travis have to say? Lots of interesting stuff, really!
2 those "fans" that choose 2 hate https://t.co/kzw2YGeqSW
— Travis Aaron Wade (@TravisAaronWade) April 15, 2016
Nothing but love for each of U. #SPNfamily#SPNpic.twitter.com/DnghhXyBUm
People, we are just Actor's. Do not idolize those that are false idols. Idolize those that actually are heroes. Understand the difference
— Travis Aaron Wade (@TravisAaronWade) April 22, 2016
. @JensenCory13 just ignore it #courage u have met me & know me These individuals no longer have a voice or any influence Don't reflect hate
— Travis Aaron Wade (@TravisAaronWade) April 25, 2016
source: Me, twitter/google searches, many tweets linked through this account.