Loquaciousness Fandom Magazine Volume 2, Issue 1 (July 2016) | Page 27

Hannah to the Phandom: Dan and Phil have known each other for a long time. Their close interactions have caused many fans within the Phandom to ship Phan. This has caused a lot of trouble between fans and frustration between Dan and Phil themselves. What is your aspect on this?

Answer: I think I’ve made my aspect pretty clear before. I know that in 2012 Dan had breakdowns because of this and because of their Valentine’s Day Video prank. We know that Dan and Phil have both changed and matured over the years, but that DOES NOT make it okay to push Phan. What IS okay is to ship Phan, but respect the fact that they have not come out as homosexual(Phil is bisexual, but Dan has never stated that he is, in fact, gay), or have said that they really are in a relationship that is anything other than a platonic(affectionate) friendship. They both seem okay with Phan, and I believe that they have stated that they’re okay with it, as long as people don’t try to force it upon them to make it awkward between them, or mess up their other other life ambitions. The Phandom needs to respect that despite them literally being pixels on our screens to us, Dan Howell and Phil Lester are REAL PEOPLE with actual feelings and lives.

The Digital: ROund two