Over the weekend, popular Minecraft YouTuber Dream decided it was time to remove his mask and show the world what he really looks like. This has, somewhat predictably yet still very disappointingly, led to an outpouring of online abuse.
If you're not entirely sure who the heck Dream is, a quick bit of background: Dream (real name Clay) rose to YouTube prominence via his Minecraft videos on YouTube. His USP? A mask that he would wear whenever he appeared on camera, keeping his face a closely guarded secret and the subject of much speculation.
But this all changed on October 2 when Dream took the mask off during a stream in front of over 1.3 million viewers. The upload has since amassed over 22 million views.
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Dream explained in the video that he decided it was time because he wanted to start hanging out with other YouTuber friends in public. He added that the stress of keeping his face a secret was getting to be too much.
Now that the entire internet knows what the 23-year-old streamer looks like, the opinions have started coming thick and fast. Many have praised Dream's social media campaign, with fellow content creators like Marques Brownlee and Addison Rae sharing positive responses to the reveal.
Similarly, a lot of fans have reacted well, as you can see below.
Unfortunately not everyone has been quite so kind. Despite the fact that Dream looks like a perfectly fine and regular guy, some corners of the internet have decided to compare him to various villains from Shrek, particularly Rumpelstiltskin.
Others are gleefully calling out and magnifying specific features for all to see and laugh at, which is just a truly awful thing to be doing to anyone. Regardless of how you feel about Dream, taking the piss out of the way he looks is guaranteed to make way more people than just him feel shitty about themselves at the end of the day.
"Dream is a really normal-looking guy and I fear what being inundated with photoshopped, filtered, and facetuned selfies of people has done to an entire generation and their perception of themselves and others," streamer and activist Clara Sorrenti observed.
Maybe when it comes to a person's physical appearance we should all stick to the classic advice and only say something if we have something nice to say, yeah? Yeah.
