Dream Weighs In On The #HesUgly Twitter Trend
On Oct. 2, popular "Minecraft" YouTuber and Twitch streamer Dream blew the internet away when he finally revealed his face and his real first name (it's Clay). Prior to this, the content creator had done business without cluing anybody in to his real identity or what his face looked like, instead opting to use a simple drawing of a smiley face as his avatar for his 8-year career. Even when he appeared in an interview for Anthony Padilla's YouTube channel, he used an animated avatar in place of his real body and face.
Because of this, fans were amazed when he dropped the smiley face and revealed his actual smiling face to the world for the first time. The video was a huge success, garnering close to 40 million views before trending on Twitter. Unfortunately, not all of this attention was of the positive variety.
While most of the reception to his face reveal — especially within the streaming industry — seemed to be positive and supportive, a significant amount of the reaction to the bold move by Dream was quite negative and mean-spirited. In the hours following the video's release, #HesUgly began to trend on Twitter. And although some of the uses of this tag seem to come from folks hopping on a bandwagon, there are also a good number of tweets out in the wild that are filled with genuinely hurtful language.
Despite his newfound freedom, Dream has remained mostly silent on some of the more negative remarks surrounding his face reveal. However, in a newer interview, the massively popular content creator has finally weighed in on how the feedback has affected him on a personal level.
Dream isn't letting the negativity get to him
Despite the significant portion of negativity in the aftermath of his face reveal, it doesn't seem Dream has let it get to him. In an interview with Bloomberg while attending TwitchCon, Dream was candid about how nervous he was about the face reveal video, even going as far as to hire a makeup artist to help him look his best for his first real close-up. When the hate started to trickle in, Dream seemed to take none of it personally.
"I got texted by so many friends of mine being like, 'Are you OK?' I was like, well, yeah, when you have 30 million eyeballs on you, a million, two million people are going to be making jokes or mean or are not great people. When you take that big of a pool, there's going to be a portion," Dream told Bloomberg.
It sounds like Dream has come a long way from his days of using his mask and avatar to hide his identity and true feelings. Back when he spoke with Anthony Padilla about his need for anonymity, Dream explained that he began wearing his mask as a way of dealing with depression and putting up a front. Dream's recent comments to Bloomberg make it sound like he has no regrets about removing the mask and meeting his friends and fans in person for the first time.
Speaking of which, Dream has not slowed down in the slightest since his face reveal. Now that he's in the public eye, he's out doing things he never dreamed of before. Although his verified Twitter account has been mostly silent since the reveal, Dream's other account shows that he has been on the move — eventually making it to TwitchCon to show his face to hundreds.
Dream's TwitchCon has been full of smiles
Bloomberg reported that Dream's panel at TwitchCon — called "Dream & Friends: The Ultimate SMP Reunion" — was filled to capacity. A huge number of fans were reportedly unable to get into the room because it was so packed full of people eager to see Dream in person. Many of the fans in attendance offered the content creator gifts, showing their support following his brave decision to put his real face out there. He tells Bloomberg that he went back to his room after the panel and cried tears of joy. "I'd never felt this feeling before — happiness but with overwhelming 'Wow, this is real, this is my life,'" Dream said.
Dream also took the opportunity at TwitchCon to meet up with some of his fellow streamers for the first time, including xQc. In fact, during TwitchCon, much of the @dreamwastaken Twitter feed has been full of selfies and smiling pictures with friends and fans. Although online toxicity is never a positive thing, it looks as though Dream is taking it in stride, rude hashtags and all.