Penn Badgley completely nails why You’s Joe keeps getting away with murder

Penn Badgley has completely nailed why You's Joe Goldberg keeps getting away with murder.

The actor has spent a lot of time recently trying to convince audiences that Joe is a bad guy, that you are not supposed to support his endeavors, and that stalking is not cute.  For the most part, he's done pretty well too as his responses to fans asking him to "kidnap me pls" have reassured everybody that no, you don't actually want to be pursued by a guy like this. Still though, people are fascinated by Badgley's character. Women more so, unsurprisingly. The actor told the New York Times that he thinks this is partly because women are attracted to Joe's good looks, but also because they understand what he represents and, in turn, are less shocked by it. "In my experience, it tends to be men who are more horrified by Joe," he said. "I’ll go out on a limb and wonder if that is because it’s less of a novel idea to women. He’s like a nightmare that you’ve repeatedly had, whereas men are like, “This isn’t real!” Women are like, “Of course it isn’t real, but it’s extremely representative of something.”

"If anyone other than a young white man were to behave like these characters behave, nobody’s having it."

Badgley said that for him, playing Joe is a means of destroying the white, male privilege that allows such men to get away with such heinous crimes. But until then, the character will act as a mirror up to a society that allows it to happen anyway.

"I think what he’s meant to be is an embodiment and a portrait of the parts of us that can’t escape rooting for Joe," he said.

"In a more just society, we would all see Joe as problematic and not be interested in the show, but that’s not the society we live in."

You can read the full New York Times article here.