Carter Reynolds is a Vine celebrity who has been in some hot water the last month when a video surfaced showing him trying to force his now ex-girlfriend, Maggie Lindemann, into having oral sex with him.
“I don’t think I can,” Lindemann says on the video, but Reynolds keeps pushing her, telling her to just “do it,” and to “pretend like the [camera] isn’t even there.”
He defended his actions by saying that everything was a misunderstanding.
This video revelation made waves on the internet, and his pretty ugly actions lost him more than a few fans. Since the leak, however, Reynolds has been struggling to rediscover his place on the internet.
But everything has pretty much gone from bad to worse.
While Reynolds did initially take some degree of responsibility for his actions, he has since tried to deflect portions of blame onto Lindemann, and is upset that his flaws are public and hers are not.
“I wish she would apologize for the things you guys don’t know about,” and insisting, “A lot of people hate on me now. They think I’m the only bad person in this entire relationship.” (The Daily Beast)
He has also encouraged fans to tweet under the hashtags #WeLoveYouCarter and #StayStrongCarter. Many of the top tweets in both hashtags are people criticizing, rather than supporting Reynolds.
i'm sorry for sexually assaulting a minor!!! someone hacked my icloud!!! its not my fault!!! tweet me why you love me!!! #WeLoveYouCarter
— James Joseph Boyle 🔆 (@jamesjoeboyle) July 20, 2015
OH NO!!! she hit u in the face with a FINGER😭😭😭😭 i'm so sorry carter #StayStrongCarter https://t.co/FZCWXRwCQc
— Aidan (@holdmedown) July 25, 2015
Reynolds went on to hold a YouNow video where he spoke about everything that had happened. During the video, he got a text message from Lindemann and Reynolds informed the audience that “the cops were on their way,” presumably to get him. The live stream ended when Reynolds got a phone call, only to tell people a while later that he was at the hospital with Lindemann.
Lindemann later confirmed that she was in the hospital due to an overdose suicide attempt.
Not longer than 24 hours later, Reynolds followed with his own suicidal tweets:
i've reached my breaking point. hope you're all happy.
— Carter Reynolds (@carterreynolds) July 20, 2015
i never had any thoughts of killing myself until now. & no it's not bc of maggie. it's bc of all the unnecessary hate i get. i'm sick of it.
— Carter Reynolds (@carterreynolds) July 20, 2015
bye
— Carter Reynolds (@carterreynolds) July 20, 2015
He then returned a few hours later to assure everyone that he was okay.
i'm okay you guys. i'm sorry i scared all of you.
— Carter Reynolds (@carterreynolds) July 20, 2015
i really did think about doing it, but then I talked to my friends and family. they made me realize that there's a lot more to life.
— Carter Reynolds (@carterreynolds) July 20, 2015
suicide is NEVER the answer and it is NOT something to joke about
— Carter Reynolds (@carterreynolds) July 20, 2015
And announced an indefinite hiatus from social media —
i'm going to be taking a break from social media for a while to get myself back together, and think about life.
— Carter Reynolds (@carterreynolds) July 20, 2015
— that lasted about two days.
i'm back
— Carter Reynolds (@carterreynolds) July 22, 2015
And the story doesn’t end, actually. Reynolds threw a social media fit when he was ordered to leave a Hilton Hotel for being a safety risk while staying there for VidCon.
There’s a lot going on here, and Reynolds gives us more than enough content to absolutely write the — “This guy is an absolute tool” story — and those articles are out there. But that’s not what I set out to write.
In a world where celebrity gossip and paparazzi photos dominate headlines, it is easy to forget that the story of Lindemann and Reynolds is a story of a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old. Two considerably young people who, in really short periods of time, gained huge social media followings and starting yielding considerable influence. That’s a lot for anyone, much less than two people who were still slogging through high school.
The internet is handing out microphones and audiences to countless extremely young people. I’m not sure whether that is good or bad, I see arguments from all sides, but it does mean that childhood screw-ups that were once handled by parents and the community are now being broadcasted on the internet. And I don’t think the internet is always the best place to have those conversations, and certainly not always the place to grow into yourself.
Which is why I sincerely think that Carter Reynolds needs to get the f*ck off the internet. At least for a little while.
A 48 hour vacation isn’t going to cut it. If you want to rebuild healthy relationships, you have to ditch YouNow sessions filled with shade. If you want to focus on self-improvement, you have to stop watching the trending hashtags and obsessing over the negative comments. You have to get off the internet, hold yourself accountable for what has been done, and actually move on.
It’s the same idea of a politician leaving politics once they are consumed by a scandal or crisis (though they usually somehow come back…). And while we don’t have elections for Twitter followers, Reynolds would be wise to follow that model.
I think Reynolds is reluctant to do this because the internet has become a cornerstone of his life. In that, I can certainly identify. I work on the internet, after all, and it has certainly become one piece of my identity. But I think trying to convince the world to “forget everything” and that everything is “business as usual” isn’t working for anybody, and that continuing down that road is only going to lead to more pain. 
