True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto is posting through it

After railing against True Detective: Night Country, Pizzolatto asked for hate on Instagram. He's certainly getting it.

By Emma Keates  |  February 22, 2024 | 5:27pm
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True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto is posting through it
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After throwing a huge tantrum over his disdain for True Detective: Night Country—a show he’s certainly making a good amount of money on—earlier this week, original True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto seems intent on proving he’s even more of an overgrown toddler than previously imagined. At least in the sense that toddlers (hopefully) don’t know how to use the internet, and Pizzolatto seems to be ignorant of its cardinal rule: if you exist, people will hate you. If you ask for hate, they’ll bust down every door trying to comply.

In a new Instagram post, Pizzolatto—who is credited as a producer on True Detective’s recently-ended fourth season even though it was created, written, and directed by Issa López—is literally making himself into the Patrick in chains or Flynn Rider with swords in his face “what’s an opinion that will get you like this” meme. “TRUE DETECTIVE AGGREGATE POST,” the director wrote in his caption. “[T]his here is the place for all your trolling/support/infighting around True Detective and the absolute moral degeneracy and misogyny of anyone who did not think it was good.”

The caption continues:

I’d say “stay civil” but of course civility has no place when criticism of a television show indicates some form of Hitlerian evil that must be stamped out. So roll on, tide. Satire is welcome, and do try to have a nice day.

The second rule Pizzolatto clearly doesn’t understand: if you want anything on the internet to get better or blow over, don’t respond to the comments. There are currently over a thousand of them on his post, to which he’s responded to… more than a handful. To his credit, he’s been somewhat generous on a few of them (emphasis on “somewhat”). “I support you,” he responded to one user who admitted they were “in the minority because [they] thoroughly enjoyed S4.” “Glad you enjoyed,” he said to another who wrote that they “really thought this season was inspired, great, and exactly what the show needed.”

But mostly, he was the same guy who reposted stories saying that “HBO should have stuck with Nic Pizzolatto” on Instagram earlier this week. To one comment suggesting that he “couldn’t write a believable female character if [his] career depended on it (which it clearly doesn’t, since mediocrity gets rewarded)” he replied: “And yet… my female lead character got an Emmy nomination. “Mediocrity gets rewarded”…you should reflect on that, given what’s being rewarded at present.” (Community note: The only actors that have been nominated for True Detective are Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey, and Mahershala Ali. He’s probably talking about Mireille Enos in the first season of The Killing, which is a little deceptive in this context.) To another who asked why he wasn’t apologizing for “creating hate against the season,” he replied: “I didn’t create anything of the kind. It was there from the first ep. And I only apologize if I’ve done something wrong.”

It seems like Pizzolatto might need to take a little nap and cool down if he doesn’t want to end up in time-out. In the meantime, you can read The A.V. Club’s interview with Night Country star Kali Reis—who very diplomatically responded to Pizzolatto’s original tirade with a shrug emoji on Tuesday—to detox.

 
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