Pedro Pascal Gave Us The Ick From Day One—The Internet Is Just Now Catching Up

He was crowned the internet’s "daddy,” dubbed an “anxious king,” and grown women call him “baby girl."

For years, he was held up as the poster child for “soft but sexy” modern masculinity, but lately, the vibes are shifting, and more people are starting to notice numerous red flags.

What Changed?

Why now? Honestly, I don't know. Maybe it was his Harrison Ford cosplay at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival that accidentally revealed just how much aura he doesn't have, despite a powerful PR machine always insisting otherwise.

His attempt to recreate Ford’s iconic photo on the same gravel driveway provided a stark comparison between Ford's natural, rugged charm and Pascal's forced, slightly gay vibes.

Or maybe his downfall began with his recent deranged response to JK Rowling. After Rowling commented on a UK Supreme Court ruling defining “woman” by biological sex, Pascal called her a “heinous loser,” a move cheered by progressives but still frowned upon by normal people who actually care about the well-being of women.

Nonetheless, whatever the reason for the sudden cultural shift, some of us have been side-eyeing the Pedro Pascal hype from the start: the manufactured heartthrob persona, the pick-me politics, and the nagging sense that "daddy" offers a lot less than we were sold.

Red Flag #1: The Male Feminist Persona

There’s a very specific kind of man who loudly claims the “feminist” label, and it's almost always a glaring signal that there is something very wrong behind closed doors. Usually, because when men make performative feminism a personality, it’s usually not about protecting women, it’s about manipulating them.

Think about the long list of male celebrities and influencers who paraded their feminist credentials, only to be exposed as abusers later. Joss Whedon, who built his reputation on creating “strong female characters” like Buffy and Wonder Woman, only to be accused by multiple women (including his ex-wife) of psychological abuse, workplace harassment, and infidelity.

Or Louis C.K., who was hailed for his progressive takes on gender and parenting, right up until it came out that he’d been allegedly cornering and masturbating in front of female comics behind closed doors. He said all the right things in public and used that image to disarm suspicion.

Even Ezra Miller, who once identified as a non-binary gender rights advocate and used woke language fluently, was later accused of grooming, assault, and other disturbing behavior.

These men knew the script, and so does Pascal. His politics are tailor-made to appeal to the kind of audience that confuses virtue-signaling with actual virtue, as seen by the fact that he doesn't actually stand with women. Case in point: when his Mandalorian co-star Gina Carano was publicly harassed and ultimately fired by Disney for sharing a political image (something Pascal had also done, but from the opposite ideological angle) he said nothing. At the time, Pascal had compared the treatment of illegal immigrants in the U.S. to the Holocaust, a comparison many found wildly inappropriate. But when Carano used a Holocaust comparison to talk about political division, she was dropped. He wasn't.

No defense. No solidarity. Not even a whisper about free speech or double standards.

And obviously, he doesn't have to agree with her perspective, but for a man so publicly aligned with feminism and “doing the right thing,” the silence was pretty telling.

Red Flag #2: The Sex Appeal Was Manufactured

And let's just admit it: Did the “Pedro Pascal is daddy” thing ever really make sense? He’s not daddy. He’s not even zaddy. But still, for a time, the internet told us he was a new sex symbol. What kind of symbol, though, exactly? An NPR tote bag?

That said, he clearly isn’t ugly. He’s conventionally attractive, aging well, and undeniably talented. But in the grand tradition of heartthrobs, does he stand out? Is he a Brad Pitt-level stunner? A Henry Cavill? A young Marlon Brando with a side of danger? No, and you know it's not even close.

Even among the ranks of unconventional heartthrobs, think Adam Driver with his tortured intensity, or Tom Hiddleston with his Shakespearean charm, Pascal lacks the raw charisma that makes the obsession feel organic. He doesn’t have the mystery or the presence. It's almost like aging barista energy: he's nice enough, but you’re definitely not daydreaming about him, and you might even feel a little bit creeped out.

The internet tried to frame his appeal as something deeper and different, but I think it's more likely that his "sexiness" was never discovered; it was assigned.

Red Flag #3: He Was Never Really Joel

When Pascal was cast as Joel in The Last of Us, at least some of us were thinking, "Wait, that guy?"

Joel, as written, is rugged and emotionally restrained due to loss and hardened by survival. He’s the type who would kill without hesitation to protect someone he loves. He’s not the type to talk through his trauma with a therapist.

But Pascal's Joel? The danger was muted. What we got instead was a more sanitized, brand-safe version of masculinity. Ironically, Pascal has made a career playing protectors with Joel, Oberyn Martell, even the Mandalorian, but there’s always a certain detachment from the archetype, like he’s wearing a costume that doesn't quite fit. He performs the motions of masculinity well enough, but the weight of it is often absent. And maybe it's that watered-down masculinity that so many progressive women find irresistible. Pascal is their ideal “daddy” because he cosplays a masculine man without actually being one.

Which begs the question: is it really Pascal they love so much? Or the fantasy of being protected without having to admit they want it?

Red Flag #4: The "Anxiety"

Pascal has made his anxiety part of his brand. He talks about it in interviews and heavily leans on it to explain some of the more questionable parts of his public behavior. Maybe he really does have anxiety, but one still has to ask: where’s that same clingy energy with men? When’s the last time he draped himself all over a male co-star like that? I’m not saying he wouldn’t, but isn't it odd that the boundary-blurring behavior seems to disproportionately affect women?

It's also worth noting that, for someone who allegedly struggles with people looking at him, most of his professional and political moves are designed to get him more attention.

Imagine for a moment if Jeremy Renner or Aaron Eckhart were doing this exact same thing, would anyone be swooning over it? Would TikTokers be calling them “wholesome?” Feminist spaces are usually quick to condemn manipulative or boundary-blurring behavior unless the man in question is left-leaning. Then, behavior that would otherwise be called "creepy" somehow becomes "endearing." Just look at Joe Biden. Hair sniffing, shoulder rubbing, too-close whispers, things that would’ve ended the careers of less protected men.

Red Flag #5: The JK Rowling Feud

In 2025, Pascal inserted himself into the center of one of the most polarizing debates of our time with a comment on Instagram: “heinous LOSER behavior.”

The target? J.K. Rowling, the world’s most successful female author, who had commented on a UK Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the legal definition of “woman” as based on biological sex. Regardless of whether one agrees with Rowling’s stance, she wasn’t inciting violence, bullying trans people, or trying to erase anyone’s existence. She was raising questions about what happens to women's rights and safety when the word “woman” is redefined to mean “anyone who identifies as one.”

For this, Pascal called her “heinous.” And it wasn’t just the word choice, it was the entire posture. He didn’t engage with her ideas. He simply condemned her character with a smug finality that suggested he saw no need to actually understand the issue from a real woman's perspective.

And, unsurprisingly, his fanbase cheered. But for someone celebrated as so emotionally intelligent and thoughtful, this response was neither.

Closing Thoughts: Daddy's Mask Has Slipped

If you claim to care about women’s rights, mental health, freedom of speech, or dignity for all, then you should be able to extend basic decency even to people you disagree with. You should, at the very least, be able to respond to a woman like Rowling, who has faced death threats, doxxing, and a sustained campaign to ruin her career, with something more substantial. Especially when your entire career is built on playing complex men who wrestle with ethics, protect girls, and know what it means to lose a daughter.

But that spat and his performative politics ultimately remind us that when it comes to defending women, most male feminists fold the moment any real moral courage is required.