While we're used to seeing celebrities splash their rich and famous lifestyles all over Instagram, and we regularly see them airing their views on X (formerly Twitter), others prefer lurking in the depths of Reddit and observing what you're saying about them from further away.
Even though Reddit isn't exactly the most popular social media platform, the fact that over 116 million people use it every day means you might've brushed shoulders with more celebrities than you'd think.
Big names like Arnold Schwarzenegger, William Shatner, and Snoop Dogg are just some of those you might find on Reddit, although the latter's handle of Here_Comes_The_King means you probably wouldn't know it's him.
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Another famous face who's partial to a bit of Reddit is Paul McCartney, but unfortunately, The Beatles' bassist and keyboardist has apparently been booted off the platform.
It's said that McCartney reactivated his dormant Reddit account on March 28, celebrating the success of two intimate but sold-out shows at Los Angeles' Fond Theater. An account with the handle of PaulMcCartney wrote: "Hope you enjoyed the show last night. As last night was a phone-free experience we wanted to make sure you had some memories from the show to share with friends, family and loved ones.”
He just wanted to share the love as he attached a Dropbox link and encouraged fans to post them on social media with the hashtag PaulRocksTheFonda, but it seems Reddit doesn't care that you're one of The Beatles.
McCartney isn't exactly a Reddit regular, with Far Out Magazine noting his account was last used for a 2020 AMA to promote his "McCartney III" album. His Fonda shows didn't exactly need much promo, with a reported A-list guest list that included fellow Beatle Ringo Starr, Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, Taylor Swift, and Olivia Rodrigo.
There were plenty of jokes on the r/PaulMcCartney subreddit as one person poked fun at Paul McCartney and Wings' "Band on the Run" album from 1973. Getting all the upvotes it deserves, we applaud the comment that read: "Banned on the Run."
One dismayed Redditor wrote: "It’s such a Reddit mod thing to do to have the logic of ‘it doesn’t matter if he’s literally the subject of our subreddit, he still needs to follow the rules just like everybody else’ 🤓☝️ While salivating to ban the account lmfao."
Another joked: "It's only a matter of time before reddit bans reddit from reddit."
A third concluded: "Definitely an automated Reddit-site-side ban, I've been noticing an uptick in shadowbans since they (allegedly) started using Hive AI for moderation. Probably because of the dropbox link in their post if I had to guess."
At the time of writing, it appears Paul has his Reddit account back, although there's no sign of his latest post, as we assume it violated some terms and conditions.
With complaints about how social media sites are being continuously automated in terms of moderation, this looks like a fail that likely wasn't done by a human hand. Imagine behind the person who banned THE Paul McCartney from Reddit.