Fans are showing their support for Hololive Vtuber Uruha Rushia, amid public backlash that exposed private conversations for the actress behind the character’s stream with fellow streamer Mafumafu.

It started during one of Rushia’s GTA V streams, where she had forgotten to turn off her discord notifications, and a private message from MafuMafu came on screen.

The message reads, “I just finished streaming, gonna go home now” before calling her a pet name referring to the performer behind the avatar.

Some fans took great offense at the idea of a vtuber having a real life, with many claiming that they had been cheated since they believed that Rushia’s VA had a boyfriend.

Many would even post photos of how long they’d been members of her channel, as well as complaining about how much money they’d spent on super chats for the Vtuber as if that meant they had a shot at actually dating her.

Rushia has since been on an unannounced break following the incident, with a now-deleted tweet painting a dire picture of her performer’s well-being amid the harassment.

“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I have trouble walking, there are so many terrible falsehoods that I want to die right now. I haven’t rested properly in days, I’m unable to make decisions, so please stop saying things that aren’t true, please”, the tweet reads.

Sanity prevailed over the weekend though, as fans without parasocial hangups rallied to flood the Twitter hashtags with support for the Vtuber.

Coincidentally Rushia features grand prominence in this week’s episode of the web series Holo No Graffiti, where fans had also commented on how much they longed for her to return.

“i will support rushia. its just something missing without her stream. majority of the fan didn’t care about what happened, that’s why we will wait patiently for her to comeback when rushia ready. stay safe and healthy rushia”, one such comment reads.

Why The Big Fuss

A large part of the fan meltdown stems from Japanese idol culture, which Hololive itself is embedded with. While not at all morally correct, idols are typically forbidden from engaging in relationships exactly because fans often feel entitled to their idols lives.

To them, the mere thought that Rushia would be dating MafuMafu is somehow inherently a betrayal, despite the fact the Vtuber they watch is a fictional character detached from the actress portraying her.

Some Hololive members, such as fellow 3rd generation member Shirogane Noel, had also previously cited it as a reason for not collaborating with the all-male hololive offshoot Holostars.