Another day, another hotly contested issue spreading across the internet: who is at the top of the list when it comes to the worst fictional friend?
On Thursday, Aug. 25, one Twitter user posed the question in a tweet, “Who is the worst fictional friend you can think of?” The tweet garnered nearly 2,000 quote tweets and hundreds of replies from other Twitter users weighing in on their choice for worst fictional friend.
Here are 10 characters shared by users across Twitter that definitely made us rethink their loyalty and dedication to their besties.
1. Lilly Moscovitz from 'The Princess Diaries'
The sidekick to Anne Hathaway’s Mia Thermopolis in the 2001 Disney hit was brought up on several occasions in the thread, with one user writing, “Lilly Moscovitz has no competition when we’re talking worst fictional friend” alongside a compilation of several tense moments of their friendship throughout the movie.
Another Twitter user shared part of their reasoning behind their choice, posting a screengrab from the movie where Lilly tells Mia, “I thought you were getting over that. It’s been two months,” alongside the message, “she said this about her dad dying.”
2. Janis Ian from 'Mean Girls'
The 2004 comedy from “Mean Girls” brought forth a host of questionable friendship dynamics, but many Twitter users were quick to point out that Janis Ian, played by Lizzy Caplan, was not a great friend to Lindsay Lohan’s Cady Heron. Multiple Twitter users called Janis, along with Gretchen Wieners, the “true villain” of the movie.
“the movie tried to portray regina as the mean girl,but regina and janis were literally two sides of the same coin, they were once friends for a reason,” one person tweeted. “Janis literally manipulated the new girl to settle her fued with regina,while cady genuinely believed Janis was her friend.”
Another added, “Sure she had the potential to be a genuine friend but she used the oblivious new girl to settle an almost decade old beef between her and the most popular girl in school and when her fiend got too deep abandoned her and shamed her.”
3. Carrie Bradshaw from 'Sex and the City'
It’s long been a hot topic on the internet to discuss Carrie Bradshaw’s behavior as a friend to Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha during the original “Sex and the City” series as well as its subsequent movies and sequel series, “And Just Like That…”
Fans were quick to jump into the thread calling Carrie out as one of the worst fictional friends, with one fan writing, “carrie bradshaw IMMEDIATELY.”
“She was a monster looking back,” another fan tweeted alongside a gif of Sarah Jessica Parker in character from the show, while another fan wrote, “Carrie Bradshaw. Worst. Friend. Ever.”
One fan added, “Everything is about her and all the girls become their worst version when in contact with Carrie.”
Several tweets also called out Carrie’s behavior specifically toward Samantha, portrayed by Kim Cattrall. One user replied to the original tweet, writing, “HER and especially to Samantha.”
4. Andy Sachs’ friends from 'The Devil Wears Prada'
The internet agrees: Anne Hathaway’s characters do not have the best luck with their friends.
In the 16 years since “The Devil Wears Prada” premiered, there’s been a growing dislike for Andy Sachs’ friends Lily (Tracie Thoms) and Doug (Rich Sommer) as well as her boyfriend, Nate (Adrian Grenier).
One Twitter user accused the group of being “so jealous of Andy and her success” in their post rating them a zero out of 10, while another added, “The friends and boyfriend from The Devils Wears Prada have got to be the most selfish, hater friends ever. Andy should have dropped them all and continued working for Miranda.”
One fan chimed in, adding, “The friends in the movie the Devil wears Prada. All too eager to grab Andy’s swag and then put her down when her work gets too taxing.”
The writer of the movie, Aline Brosh-McKenna, doesn’t necessarily agree with the hate toward Andy’s friends or boyfriend though. In 2019, Brosh-McKenna spoke about the topic on a panel according to Refinery29, explaining, “What I think is interesting is that the world has changed in the last 12 years. So that I feel like the audience [back] then understood Miranda’s the devil. She’s the devil.”
“So I think it’s really interesting that we prize success in a different way than we did even a dozen years ago,” she later added.
5. Dawson Leery from 'Dawson’s Creek'
Though James Van Der Beek held the titular role in the classic teen drama, Dawson Leery’s antics throughout the series didn’t make him very popular by the end of its six season run.
“I don’t get the loyalty everyone has to him,” one Twitter user wrote alongside the meme of Van Der Beek’s character crying. “He must have been a saint as a child. Something snapped when he hit puberty.”
While one fan said in a tweet they weren’t even able to finish the show because of Dawson, another added, “I need a Dawson’s Creek au where instead of killing Jen in season 6 they kill Dawson in season 1, episode 1.”
6. Zack Morris from 'Saved by the Bell'
While Zack Morris may have been popular at Bayside High, he’s not so popular with the internet, especially when it comes to his friendships. In fact, his antics inspired a Funny or Die series called “Zack Morris is Trash,” showing dozens of Mark-Paul Gosselaar’s worst moments.
“I’m a proud member of the Zack Morris hate club,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another user added, “Oh nah this man takes the cake for sure. This man the absolute worst friend.”
7. Ron Weasley from 'Harry Potter'
Several fans agreed that Ron Weasley from the “Harry Potter” book and subsequent movie series was not always a great friend to Harry.
“Ron Weasley was incredibly jealous of Harry,” one fan wrote. “He thought Harry willingly put his name in the Goblet of Fire and had a stink a-- attitude with him. Not even directly telling Harry that he could be roasted and murdered by some dragons. And then of course how he treated Hermoine.”
8. Shauna Shipman from 'Yellowjackets'
This Showtime drama gripped the internet when it hit the scene in November 2021, but one character in particular irked the internet enough to land her on the list of some Twitter users’ least favorite fictional friend.
“Girl was sleeping with her best friend’s bf and then had the audacity to yell at Jackie because she was upset about it!” one Twitter user wrote alongside a photo of Shauna Shipman, portrayed by Sophie Nélisse.
9. Alison DiLaurentis from 'Pretty Little Liars'
With the premiere of “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” the original series based on the books by Sara Shepard have continued to garner attention. Though the show debuted more than a decade about, fans are still in agreement about one thing: Alison was the “worst of the worst,” as one fan put it in a tweet.
“the entire plot of PLL was her friends being tormented by the memory of her,” another fan added alongside a gif of Sasha Pieterse’s controversial character who went missing at the beginning of the show.
Another fan wrote, “everyone in the TOWN was happy she was gone, even her own friends…”
10. Devi Vishwakumar from 'Never Have I Ever'
Over the three seasons of Netflix’s hit “Never Have I Ever,” Devi Vishwakumar has had her ups and downs as both a daughter and a friend. While fans of the show still love her, they had no issue calling her out for some of her low moments as a friend on Twitter.
“i love her so much, but the amount of times i was hiding my head in shame when she let down her friends especially when she let that thing with aneesa blow up at school and made it worse,” one person wrote.
Another added, “I love her but she’s so chaotic.”