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There was trouble brewing in the land of witchcraft and magic, as Harry Potter star Tom Felton has been accused of allegedly grooming a minor online. However, these allegations were later debunked by a section of the online community, much to the relief of many.
The initial news of his grooming came as a shock to his loyal fan base, who immediately came out in support of the 33-year old. Tom Felton is best known for portraying the role of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series and went on to become a global star post the enormous success of these films.
He has millions of fans across the globe, and they have stood by him even as reports of his alleged grooming of a minor surfaced on the web. This was because someone leaked screenshots of his conversation with a 16 year old online:
As soon as the series of tweets alleging his grooming went viral, a section of the community immediately jumped on the bandwagon, withdrawing support for Tom Felton:
That's not all. A section of the online community is also attempting to 'cancel' the Englishman for liking a post by series creator JK Rowling, who has herself been involved in a storm ever since her perceived transphobic comments.
This accusation led to a major Twitter storm, and fans and members of the online community came out in large numbers and extended their support to Tom Felton, who they believed was innocent.
The Tom Felton accusations debunked
With the internet going crazy, some netizens decided to do some digging, which led to them revealing that the allegations against Tom Felton were false. The screenshots of his conversation were 'fake,' as they were edited/ photoshopped, as per these 'online investigators.'
Numerous users have come out with evidence to support this claim:
The fact that this resulted from an unverified accusation makes the matter all the more problematic, as these kinds of allegations can often end up doing irreparable harm to the person, celebrity or not.
Which is why his supporters took to Twitter to call out those trying to tarnish his image and extend their support towards him:
As fans continue to come out in support of Tom Felton, it is indeed worrying to see such a large part of the community fall victim to the vicious lure of rumor-mongering. That, too, in today's age, where mental health issues are of prime importance.
The phenomena of Cancel Culture often tends to function as a double-edged sword, which needs to be wielded with the utmost precaution by the online community.
While times certainly seem to be tough for Tom Felton, he can take solace in the fact that he has a whole army of devoted fans fighting to clear his name.
