Praise for Victor Newman, the fictional business tycoon from “The Young and the Restless,” can be seen far and wide across social media platforms. The character is played by longtime actor Eric Braeden.
The 83-year-old became a trending topic for all of the right reasons after coming to the defense of his co-stars who were targeted with hate speech by an X user.
The woman, who goes by the name Kerry and identifies as someone who “respects the Holy Bible’ and supports “Trump 2024 MAGA,” found out the hard way that her vile digital attacks on non-white soap stars would not be tolerated by daytime drama enthusiasts, let alone the shows and their casts.
Her viral “f—k around and find out” moment came a month after her May 31 tweet saying, “The three faces that are destroying the show. They all think their high and might when they’re not, can’t wait for someone to put theses slaves in their place. #YR,” along with a photo of Sean Dominic, Christel Khalil, and Bryton James, who portray characters Nate, Lily, and Devon, respectively, on the show that is in its 50th season.
On June 20, “Community” actress Yvette Nicole Brown cast a spotlight on the post when she called for “The Young and the Restless” to follow suit with “General Hospital” and to block Kerry for the inflammatory tweet and her purported history of using racist speech toward actors on both shows. Among the people condemning Kerry’s online behavior was Newman — or, well, Braeden.
He joined the cast in 1980, seven years after its debut, and has a reputation as being a no-nonsense billionaire.
These three actors are dear colleagues of mine; they have more class than you LOW LIFE can imagine! We are going to block your racist ass, you got that, bitch??!!
— Eric Braeden (@EBraeden) June 20, 2024
When Braeden fired back at Kerry, he wrote, “These three actors are dear colleagues of mine; they have more class than you LOW LIFE can imagine! We are going to block your racist ass, you got that, b-tch??!!” The latter part of his response, “you got that,” was a nod to his infamous on-screen persona. Fans went crazy, cheering on his actions.
“Damn Victor DRAGGED that fan for FILTH!” wrote one person. Another said, “Eric Victor has never, ever been the one to play with. He’s been coming to our cookouts tf they thought!!!”
Several others note that the Newman character has been beloved by Black women for decades and that their deep reverence for him would only grow deeper because of his viral statement against racism.
😂😂😂😂😂
— yvette nicole brown (@YNB) June 20, 2024
The find out phase never disappoints! https://t.co/66lklkF3hl
On X, a user wrote, “Victor Newman don’t play but Eric Braeden is a savage I love it!” While a second user said, “That’s why our grand mommas & mommas love them some Victor Newman. Always standing on business.”
It is unclear if Kerry has been blocked by the soap opera.
However, “General Hospital” not only blocked her but also issued a statement against her hate speech. They tweeted, “General Hospital does not tolerate hatred or bigotry of any kind. Racism has no place in Port Charles. #GH is for everyone.” Amid the blowback caused by her racism, she made her account private, protecting her tweets from non-followers.
