CHAPTER 392: CHAPTER 392: DISTINCTION

Although the paparazzi felt that writing about Paige Sterling like this was somewhat unkind, they had no choice. After all, Paige Sterling naturally attracted attention, and only by writing like this could they make money.

Besides, the cost and consequences of just making things up are low, and Paige is so busy that it’s impossible for her to bother with them.

Indeed, paired with those photos, it actually did give off a bit of an aggressive vibe from Paige Sterling.

After all, in this day and age, who doesn’t have a celebrity they admire? Who doesn’t wish that the person they admire would notice them, be a bit kinder to them?

Those high school students honestly didn’t do anything wrong; they just wanted to catch a glimpse of Paige Sterling.

Even if Paige wasn’t touched, she actually sent them to the police, wouldn’t that make anyone feel sad?

There were many people online who remained rational and didn’t choose sides.

What if Paige comes out later and the situation turns around? That would be awkward.

However, very soon, the people involved in the incident—the group of high school students—also spoke out, claiming they were wronged online.

"I’ve always admired Paige Sterling. I’ve been her fan since she was in the entertainment industry. Over the years, I spent all my pocket money on her. My birthday is in a few days, so I arranged with a few classmates who are also her fans to go to Jarrow, just to see her up close and hear her say ’happy birthday’ to me. But I didn’t expect my idol to be such a person. She wasn’t moved by our devotion at all and even insulted us, eventually sending us to the police station. Even now when I think about it, my heart hurts so much I can’t breathe..."

"...Indeed, reality and dreams are different. I am now fully awake. A woman like Paige is not worth my admiration. I’ve stopped being her fan and advise everyone: liking this woman is not worth it at all. In her eyes, we fans are nothing; we’re mere social garbage to her, and she looks down on us..."

Netizens were confused. Was Paige Sterling really this excessive?

Many marketing accounts jumped on the bandwagon, providing pictures of Paige Sterling either expressionless or rolling her eyes when facing fans, to prove she really looked down on and disrespected fans...

It seemed reasonable.

In the entertainment industry, celebrities usually provide their fans with various benefits and make sure to thank them at award ceremonies, portraying an image of loving their fans.

And fans totally buy into that.

But how about Paige Sterling? Not to say she doesn’t provide any benefits; she rarely even interacts with fans online.

At the airport, when fans asked for signatures, she never bothered to respond.

Isn’t Paige Sterling being too much? Why would she treat her fans like this? Does she not know how much fans have sacrificed for her? Could she have her current fame without their support?

But soon, someone online countered this point of view.

"Let me say something weakly, have you all forgotten that God Sterling is no longer in the entertainment industry? She now doesn’t sell dreams in the entertainment industry, so she has no obligation to be responsible for your admiration and worship, right? So, it’s one thing to idolize, but constantly harassing her like paparazzi and fans really makes sense?"

"I think God Sterling did nothing wrong, right? She’s no longer in the entertainment industry, and suddenly a bunch of people jumped out claiming they liked her and wanted photos and signatures for their birthday—that’s harassment, isn’t it? If it was someone else in the business world, wouldn’t they report it to the police as well? So why is something that makes sense for others suddenly wrong for God Sterling?"

"Yeah, God Sterling speaks with strength, she’s not here to please anyone, so why does she have to smile at you?"

"Those saying that without fan support, God Sterling wouldn’t be who she is today, aren’t you overestimating yourselves? Hasn’t God Sterling’s success been due to her own ability? What’s it got to do with fans? Was Penson crowd-funded by fans? Were Penson’s products boosted by fans’ manipulation? Was God Sterling’s success just puffery and public relations? Without you, God Sterling wouldn’t be God Sterling? Isn’t it true many fans’ enriched lives today are provided by God Sterling? Isn’t it because of God Sterling that many have a pursuit goal? Please understand, God Sterling is a spiritual pillar for fans; fans need God Sterling, not the other way around. Those who easily blame God Sterling for not pampering them, not meeting their demands, in what way can they call themselves fans of God Sterling?"

To clear Paige Sterling’s name, netizens began to dig into the truth.

Those who truly like Paige Sterling believe in her.

Although Paige always appears cold in public, many couldn’t believe she would insult fans or deliberately call the police on them.

This digging actually unearthed a lot.

Several drivers uploaded their dashcam footage.

From the footage, it was clear the scalper car was tailing Paige Sterling, causing several innocent cars to get scratched and almost leading to a series of car crashes.

Finally, the scalper car deliberately drove towards Paige Sterling to force her car to stop.

In that situation, Paige could have dodged.

But dodging would have meant the cars behind and beside her would have suffered.

So Paige didn’t dodge and got hit, turning her multimillion-dollar car into a wreck; doesn’t it seem like Paige suffered the greatest loss?

And this was deliberately driving into someone, how is this different from attempted murder?

If there had been any accident, Paige could have been killed.

Someone also exposed the so-called video of Paige insulting people; from start to finish, Paige didn’t utter a single curse word.

This immediately turned the netizens’ attention to the scalper vendors.

"Trash paparazzi, making things up and ruining my God Sterling’s reputation! Go to hell!"

"The scalpers are so despicable, actually driving to hit my God Sterling, if something happened to God Sterling, could you afford to compensate?"

"How is this different from murder? My God Sterling called the police to protect her rights, isn’t that exactly what she should do???"

"God Sterling insulted no one. Who wants fans like this? You idolize God Sterling and think you can drive into her? How unlucky for God Sterling to have people like you as fans?"

"We are all fans of God Sterling, but we never cause trouble for her. These people don’t really like God Sterling; they just see her as an easy target, thinking that just because they say a sentence or two about liking God Sterling, she owes them and should unconditionally fulfill their requests—it’s truly ridiculous..."

"My God Sterling is already working so hard usually, can’t understand why people like to keep troubling her, you aren’t tired, but we’re tired of seeing it..."

"Wake up, even the sun can’t be blackened like this, where do you get the courage to think making up nonsense could smear my God Sterling?"

In the end, those paparazzi who exposed the story got scolded into silently deleting their Weibo posts.

And those whining teenagers were scolded by their parents.

Even if Paige hadn’t scolded them, their parents would scold their children to death.

Paige didn’t care about any of this online, by the time she noticed the matter had ever happened online, several days had passed, and the buzz had already died down.

In today’s society, if you haven’t been blackened, you’d be embarrassed to say you’re famous. Paige had long been used to it.

That day she left Islet Labs and took a cab back to Penson.