After Twitter came for Chris Pratt, his Marvel costars came to his rescue. Marvel superheroes are coming to their costar Chris Pratt's rescue after Twitter dubbed him the worst Hollywood Chris. The latest tweets from @prattprattpratt.
When actor Chris Pratt found himself trending on Twitter on Oct. 17, it wasn’t because of his new film or the birth of his first child.
Instead, Twitter users were clamoring for Pratt to be canceled because of his support of President Donald Trump.
There was one problem: Pratt had never said such a thing.
As a scholar of communication, I was drawn to the way this saga played out.
But whereas a lot of attention has been given to how bots and bad actors fan false information, I see the issue as something more structural, with certain flaws baked into the way Twitter is built – particularly its trending function.
Together, they cause what rhetoricians call “logical fallacies” to thrive.
The most problematic Chris of them all
The controversy began when television writer and producer Amy Berg tweeted pictures of the “Four Hollywood Chrises” accompanied by the caption “one has to go.”
The post was intended to be a joke playing on a popular candy bar meme, which asks users to vote out one type of candy.
In this case, the four Chrises were actors Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pine. The overwhelming majority of votes were in favor of removing Pratt from the group.
The rhetoric quickly escalated from there, with many users calling for the cancellation of Pratt based on the allegation that he was a “MAGA Bro” who supported Trump.
Pratt, however, has never expressed support for any of the candidates in the 2020 election. The only known campaign contribution he has ever made was to Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012.
Nonetheless, on the morning of Oct. 17, “Chris Pratt” was trending on Twitter, with many tweeters continuing to reference his supposed support of Trump.
When it sees a spike in tweets about a certain topic, Twitter’s algorithm kicks in and designates it as trending, which exposes it to even more users.
Just like that, an illogical narrative spiraled out of control.
A platform where logical fallacies thrive
I could go into the intricacies of algorithms to show how they fuel this phenomenon. But the rhetorician in me sees insights in Ancient Greece.
The classical thinker Aristotle created a form of logic called syllogistic reasoning. A syllogism is a type of argument in which a conclusion is drawn from the acceptance of at least two premises.
The most famous syllogism is:
In other words, if you accept the premises of this argument, you must then accept the conclusion.
Twitter users often accept a flawed syllogism by using a conclusion as one of the premises – namely, that the platform spreads truthful information. If you accept this as a premise, you’re forced to accept the conclusions it has already reached.
In the case of Pratt, users assumed he supports Trump because that conclusion was trending on Twitter. Most tweets about Pratt cited no external sources supporting their claims, only other tweets.
The reasoning of Twitter users spreading the misinformation probably looked like this:
Other fallacies are ingrained in the platform and advanced by its users.
The logical fallacy of ad populum – believing that something is true because it is popular – is also promoted by Twitter’s trending function.
Then there’s the fallacy of ad baculum, which translates to “appeal to the stick.” This approach attempts to get others to accept an idea through fear and intimidation.
The result, in cases like this, is that people are too afraid to criticize the Twitter mob for attacking someone for fear they, too, will be attacked.
Drowning out the truth
Sorting legitimate information from misinformation on Twitter is especially difficult because the social media service’s trending function ends up “flooding the zone.”
The concept of flooding the zone is borrowed from football. Coaches sometimes send multiple offensive players to the same area of the field hoping to overwhelm a single defender.
In politics, former Trump campaign adviser Steve Bannon popularized the strategy by putting out numerous false attacks against Hillary Clinton to overwhelm voters and members of the press – a strategy he infamously called “flooding the zone with shit.”
Sorting through the tweets about Pratt, it was difficult to understand where the association between Pratt and Trump came from. The claim’s basis stemmed primarily from the belief that because Pratt did not attend an online fundraiser for Joe Biden hosted by other members of the “Avengers” film franchise, he must, therefore, support Trump. In the days after the controversy, “Avengers” director Joe Russo revealed that Pratt was simply not asked to attend the fundraiser because he is currently in the U.K.
[Deep knowledge, daily.Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.]
Twitter has taken some steps to combat the spread on misinformation. Recently, it prevented a New York Post article with unsubstantiated claims from appearing on the platform. However, after receiving criticism, Twitter reversed its position. The platform has also introduced a function asking users if they want to read an article before retweeting it.
Interestingly, neither of these steps stopped the spread of the attacks against Pratt, which were based on false reasoning and half-truths. Most posts condemning Pratt offered no claims of fact or links to sources.
Therein lies Twitter’s biggest problem. How do you fact-check an argument that offers no facts?
If you've been on Twitter recently, you might have noticed a certain celebrity trending high: Chris Pratt. And not in a good way. Now, his famous friends – and his wife – are coming to his defense.
After the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' star went viral over the weekend as social media debated Hollywood's least desirable Chris, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo and more celebrities posted strong defenses of their 'Avengers' co-star, while Pratt's wife Katherine Schwarzenegger called out the 'mean' challenge.
© Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY Chris Pratt, the star of Jurassic World, photographed at Universal Studios, Los Angeles on June 6, 2015.'What a world ... The 'sinless' are casting stones at my brother, Chris Pratt,' said Downey Jr. in part of a longer message Tuesday.
'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,' Mark Ruffalo tweeted Tuesday.
But wait, what happened?
Much of the conversation stemmed from a tweet shared Saturday by filmmaker Amy Berg that asked Twitter users which Hollywood Chris they would get rid of out of a lineup that includes Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine and Chris Evans.
'One has to go,' Berg tweeted with photos of each Chris.
Responses to the post soon followed, with many choosing Pratt, citing speculation surrounding his political stance.
'Chris Pratt because he’s MAGA. He’s the worst Chris,' @DrChaeEd wrote in a retweet of the post, despite Pratt not publicity endorsing any 2020 presidential candidate.
© Jordan Strauss, Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Katherine Schwarzenegger (left) and Chris Pratt announced the birth of their daughter Lyla Maria Schwarzenegger Pratt on Aug. 10.'I just searched why Chris Pratt was trending and I’m upset,' @SimasaurusX tweeted.
Some tweets also pointed out that Pratt belongs to Hillsong, a megachurch that has been accused of anti-LGBTQ views.
'Well, seeing as three of them are progressive, and one of them actively defends his church for being homophobic ... Bye, Chris Pratt,' @jeffbrutlag tweeted.
'Chris Pratt is part of a church that supports conversion therapy. We’ve been (We) knew who has to go,' @agonethetic wrote.
Some fans came to Pratt's defense: 'He's not maga. He never said he was. In fact he's almost never political. People can't mind their own business these days smh,' @NateAsHimself tweeted.
USA TODAY has reached out to Pratt's representative for comment.
A post shared by Robert Downey Jr. Official (@robertdowneyjr) on Oct 20, 2020 at 2:53pm PDT
The assumptions surrounding Pratt's politics were heightened by his absence in an upcoming virtual fundraiser for Joe Biden led by some superhero co-stars.
“Voters Assemble!,' on Tuesday, featured 'Avengers' cast members Evans, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd, Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana for a night of Q&A and trivia with vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris.
In his tweet Tuesday, Ruffalo noted Pratt 'is just not overtly political as a rule. This is a distraction. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize, friends. We are so close now.'
Posting a photo on Instagram of the two on set together, Downey Jr. called Pratt '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.'
Zoe Saldana shared a quote and a message for Pratt on Twitter.
'No matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out, keep your head up and handle it. -Tupac,' she wrote. 'You got this @prattprattpratt. Your family, friends, colleagues & everyone who’s ever crossed paths with you knows your heart and your worth!'
Chris Pratt Tweet
'Guardians' director James Gunn called the controversy 'nonsense.'
He continued, '@prattprattpratt is the best dude in the world. I’ve spent hours & hours sharing my deepest truths with this man, as he has with me. Please stop assuming what he believes, politically or in any other way, because he’s a Christian.'
Schwarzenegger, who welcomed her first child with Pratt in August, defended her husband as well.
'Is this really what we need?' Schwarzenegger commented under E! News' Instagram post. 'There’s so much going on in the world and people struggling in so many ways. Being mean is so yesterday. There’s enough room to love all these guys. Love is what we all need not meanness and bullying. Let’s try that.'
Pratt married Schwarzenegger, the daughter of former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in June 2019.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, who spent two terms as the governor, has sparred frequently with President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican. But, in an interview with USA TODAY in October 2019, he insisted he enters his battles selectively.
'I’m not positioning myself to be a critic of Trump, only when it’s obvious,' Arnold Schwarzenegger said. 'That’s why you don’t hear from me for months, even if I don’t like what’s going on.'
Contributing: Cydney Henderson, Andrea Mandell
'Inconceivable!': More than 110,000 tune into 'A Virtual Princess Bride Reunion' fundraiser
More: Stars showing support for 2020 presidential candidates, from Sharon Stone to Kanye West
Why Do People Hate Chris Pratt
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Avengers' stars defend Chris Pratt after online backlash: 'Look at how he lives his life'