Chris Pratt's Costars Come to His Defense After He's Attacked Online for Being the Worst Chris in Hollywood

So this poll went up over the weekend. And without actually tabulating the ballots, it's been reported that among the group of Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine and Chris Evans, Chris Pratt captured about 95% of the Worst Chris voting. If true, that's a historic landslide of epic proportions. 

As much as I stan Thor, Steve Trevor and Captain America, I had no idea that a guy affable enough and versatile enough to play a doofusy manchild like Andy Dwyer, likeable enough to carry the subpar "Jurassic World" franchise and pull off the tricky comedy/heroic lead balancing act in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" films was so universally despised. Or why.

Take this for what it's worth, but conservative media is chalking it up to two factors. One, that Pratt is a devout Christian. 

And two, that there was a virtual Biden fundraiser that some of the Marvel stars were on, but Pratt was not one of them. 

And there's been so much online vitriol directed toward him for those two offenses, that Pratt's Marvel costars who know him and did do the event have had to assemble the Avengers and let people know the guy is not history's greatest monster just because he loves the Baby Jesus and skipped a political event. 

Source - Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. — who play the Hulk and Iron Man in the mega Marvel movies — and Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn are coming to the defense of Chris Pratt after the internet decided he's the worst of the "Hollywood Chrises." …

Gunn, who directed Pratt in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, wrote, "So do 98% of Christians, all Catholics, most Muslims & some Jews. I was a Catholic for years, hoping I could have a bigger impact working for gay rights from the inside. I eventually gave up. But it was a valid choice. & I applaud other non-bigots who do the same."

He continued, "Chris himself has openly stated the church he attends doesn’t reflect all of his personal views, and that he is a 'man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want.'"

"What a world… The 'sinless' are casting stones at my brother, Chris Pratt…," Downey Jr. wrote in support of his costar. "A real Christian who lives by principle, has never demonstrated anything but positivity and gratitude… AND he just married into a family that makes space for civil discourse and (just plain fact) INSISTS on service as the highest value."

"If you take issue with Chris,,, I’ve got a novel idea," he continued. "Delete your social media accounts, sit with your OWN defects of character, work on THEM, then celebrate your humanness… @prattprattpratt I #gotyerbackbackback." 

Ruffalo added his thoughts to the discourse on Twitter, writing, "You all, @prattprattpratt is as solid a man there is. I know him personally, and instead of casting aspersions, look at how he lives his life. He is just not overtly political as a rule. This is a distraction." …

Pratt's Guardians costar Zoe Saldana also tweeted in his defense with a quote from Tupac, writing, "No matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out, keep your head up and handle it. -Tupac. You got this @prattprattpratt . Your family, friends, colleagues & everyone who’s ever crossed paths with you knows your heart and your worth!"

Then, just in case you forgot what year this is and that we're living in an Upside/Down were everything is an awful, dystopian mirror image of our former reality, the Demogorgons launched a counter attack. 

Some fans have seen the support Pratt has received and pointed out that other Marvel stars such as Brie Larson, Zendaya, Tessa Thompson, and more did not receive the same support from their castmates when facing online harassment of their own.

"All these Marvel dudes were REAL quiet when Zendaya, Tessa Thompson, and Brie Larson were getting mercilessly harassed by dudebros, but Chris Pratt gets RIGHTFULLY called out on his bulls—, and they suddenly have a lot to say," one fan wrote.

And it got ugly. Really, really ugly.

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And this is 2020 in microcosm. A backlash against a backlash that sparks a vicious counter-backlash. With more backlashes to follow. Where a bunch of people can collaborate on the most successful movie franchise in history by pretending to be costumed demigods working together to fight evil and save the universe. They make millions while entertaining billions. And as a show gratitude, one of them gets singled out for beliefs he has never expressed and probably doesn't hold. So the people who know him defend him. Only to get accused of tacitly supporting creeps who trolled some of their other costars. And some blatant racists in the online mob savagely go after the woman of color for the crime of sticking up for her friend. 

This is another incident to go into the time capsule for future generations to know what this moment in time was like once civilization inevitably collapses. Social media gave everyone a voice. And once we got used to the idea, we started using it to scream at one another about what monsters we are and hating everyone for not being exactly like us and believing in precisely what we believe in. Thereby demonstrating how pure and virtuous we are. Instead of - and I admit even as I say it this is a crazy idea - having a rational conversation and finding out what the person you're talking about actually believes in and how they really think. 

But I'm long since believing that will ever happen. Or even work if we ever tried it. I'm not about to weep for a handsome and popular multimillionaire with an amazingly successful career getting bullied online. I've got my own crosses to bear. But I will say this is a small part of a much bigger problem. This is what passes for civil discourse in 2020. And I don't think there's any chance we come back from it.