I keep seeing constant remarks saying: "Linda led Dean on, she's just to blame as he is", or "Mick and Linda are treating Dean appallingly, Team Dean all the way!", or "Ffs Linda just leave Dean alone, he's lost his granddad!"

I know its not real, but defending a rapist and and attempting to paint the victim as the villain is actually quite sick! I have a feeling people are only doing this because they think Dean is 'fit.'

I'm seeing it constantly on Twitter now, and it's really annoying me

That's truly disgusting and I'm afraid you're probably right with the reason being they fancy Dean. I actually respect DTC for making Dean a rapist. I know there was a lot of criticism directed at DTC from posters on DS for "ruining his character" but that's exactly what it is like in the real world. How fans of Dean felt about him becoming a rapist is how real rapists' families feel about their crimes (albeit obviously different scenarios). Rapists aren't always dirty, weird, ugly old men.

Haven't seen it but it doesn't surprise me. Look at the appreciation thread and you'll find plenty of "Poor Dean looks sad". People seem to be utterly incapable of looking beyond the (bad) actor to the character.

If I was Matt Di Angelo I'd be quite disappointed that anybody had sympathy for Dean because it would mean I wasn't doing the job right.

The people saying that are probably stupid 12 year old girls who fancy Dean.

One of the many reasons I avoid Twitter. Its full of twits.

He's lost his granddad though - that's a classic one. They have only known each other less than a year LOL!

Twitter is full of moronic teenage girls who will defend anything their icons do as long as they're pretty.

The answer is simple - avoid Twitter. Who needs it anyway?

I don't see why Matt should be blamed because some people are idiots.

It's the writing that's the problem if the character is being interpreted sympathetically.

EastEnders is to blame. Rather than showing Dean as the monster he is, they are painting him to be a victim, which in turn is cultivating these worrying views in the fans of Dean / Matt di Angelo.

They should be ashamed of this mess they have created.

Its no surprise to me. You only have to see the messages defending Dan Osborne from TOWIE to see how messed up peoples views are on things like abuse and assault on women. Thats a real life issue so people sticking up for a soap character doesn't surprise me.

The story started out well but their insistence on keeping Dean in has made it a complete mess. Instead of justice we see it considered acceptable for the rape victim to be intimidated and attacked constantly so it makes sense that idiots would use that as a justification for their view that she should just 'get over it'.

There's been similar stuff elsewhere - it's pretty sad.

I agree and that is as a fan of Matt's.

It's par for the course within "fandoms".

Sadly, the show does nothing to discourage it.



It's the same on ED at the moment - both Robert & Aaron are responsible for the death of Katie - yet the fandom goes out of it's way to "justify" Katie's death.



And the shows do nothing to discourage it because they rely on the fandoms.

lol that's so ridiculous considering Linda is being much more reasonable to Dean then she needs to be

I am also starting to wonder if this is intentional, particularly after Stacey walked out of Blades in protest at Dean's return - it was almost as if she was being portrayed as the unreasonable one.

The writers aren't actually trying to make us feel sorry for Dean, are they? They can't be

Please do not compare the people on the Dean Appreciation Thread to those posters trolling on twitter. Nobody on the Dean Appreciation Thread (myself included) have denied that Dean raped Linda or denied that he was wrong to do that. We also most emphatically do not blame Linda for what happened (although perhaps had she preserved the evidence and contacted the police immediately she would realistically have had a better chance of convicting him) but that doesn't mean that we need to hate Dean or not be sorry that he lost his granddad.

I agree. It feels as if the writers are trying to create a sense of moral ambiguity when it comes to this story. Which is wrong, considering we actually saw Dean rape Linda. He simply cannot remain in the show.

Dean IS supposed to be hated though.

When Matt Di Angelo was there for the Graham Norton EastEnders special, the entire audience booed him, and Matt was sat there laughing, as that is the point of the character. He's meant to be hated. Matt was clearly happy about it, as this proved he's doing his job correctly.

The Emmerdale situation is different. Robert didn't mean for Katie to die. It was manslaughter, though he should have handed himself in and faced the consequences. It was cowardly not to but Robert is not portrayed as evil. I think he does genuinely care about Andy and he does love aaron in his way.

Aaron is guilty of nothing more than a foolish decision to betray Robert to Katie (though he had no idea what that would lead to) and covering up afterwards because Robert manipulated him. It's clear that he does feel a lot of guilt for his part in Katie's death, and even Robert isn't a monster.

Agreed - they are defending him because he is a handsome man (Mick is slightly hotter but let's talk about this another time ).

Like I wonder if Linda was raped by a less attractive man or Dean was ugly they'd be saying he was guilty as sin.

It's just fan-girling.

It's boring if you always have villains that are supposed to be hated and not necessarily true to life as not all criminals are monsters. If Dean was supposed to break the stereotypes surrounding rapists then he should have been written and acted ambigiously. If Dean was meant to be hated, then they should have shown him not caring about anyone like Finn O Connor/Frank Foster and reoffending, not shown him genuinely caring about Stan, Shirley etc.

I do agree with this.

I do understand what you're saying, but even complete monsters like Adolf Hitler probably genuinely cared for at least one person.

Just because someone shows care and consideration towards another, it doesn't make them a better person, or justify their actions.

And he HAS reoffended. He hasn't raped anyone else since, but he did hold Nancy captive and attempt to set the Vic alight. If Mick hadn't caught him in the act, who knows what he would've done

Linda's not to blame, but...

TPTB are mainly showing the rape from Dean's perspective - Dean being outcast, Dean being hurt in prison, Dean not coping. Dean, Dean, Dean! Shirley, Buster and Mick will be alot better once Dean has gone and then they can put more focus on how Linda feels.