Listen up "Orange is The New Black" fanatics - Matt McGorry is only an actor.
McGorry, who plays the fictional correctional officer John Bennett on the popular Netflix series, has been harassed with hate mail online from people who can't seem to separate him from his fictional persona.
[SPOILER ALERT]
During season three of the popular Netflix series, Bennett becomes conflicted about the kind of father he wants to become to his unborn child with inmate Dayanara, who is played by Dascha Polanco. After proposing to Daya with a makeshift ring, Bennett flees when he realizes that becoming a husband and father to an incarcerated woman is not what he wanted.
Unfortunately, since the latest season premiered several fans of the show have been sending McGorry nasty and negative comments on social media about his character's actions.
Well, enough is enough.
McGorry posted a lengthy Father's Day message on his Instagram account, addressing the fans that think he is an actual deadbeat dad.
"Happy Fathers Day to all the real fathers out there! I am an actor and I play the fictional character John Bennett on the fictional television show entitled 'Orange Is The New Black,'" he captioned a photo of himself on set with Polanco and Elizabeth Rodriguez (Aleida Diaz). "They are not mother and Daugther [sic] in real life even though they and we play pretend characters that are sometimes even the opposite of who we are as real live people while not reflecting our real lives because it is not real."
The post goes on to detail the difference between him as an actor and the character that he portrays. McGorry even goes as far as to explain that the words he reads on the show were written by a writer.
"Moments before this photograph was taken I was even saying words that were written by another person, all the while pretending that my name was John Bennett and that his thoughts and actions were a result of my own brain," he wrote. "To make matters even more confusing, I am even dressed in fictional character John Bennett's costume in this photograph that was taken on the television set and afterwards I went home to my apartment in New York City where I don't have a child because I'm not a father and have never worked in a prison and TV is not real life. #oitnb."
During an interview with Vulture, McGorry opened up about his characters actions and exit from the show.
"The flashback is analogous to what ends up actually happening with Bennett and Daya. Here he is, he's in battle, he's talking a big game, but when it comes down to it, the other lower-ranked guy jumps on the grenade as Bennett goes and runs," he said. "I think it's sort of who Bennett is: He wants to be the hero so bad, and he tries but falls short. It's pretty tragic, but there is some part of me that thinks Bennett believes he was doing the better thing by leaving. It allows Pornstache's mother to step in, it allows other things to shift. I mean, if you think of it, that relationship has been a ticking time bomb since the beginning."
