The internet has a long memory, and for the cast of the hit show ‘Off-Campus’, that memory just caught up with them.
Fans of the show turned amateur investigators discovered that three of its rising stars, Stephen Kalyn, Jalen Thomas Brooks and Khobe Clarke, had been quietly liking a string of posts that painted a very different picture from the progressive, inclusive world their series portrays on screen.
Screenshots circulating online showed the actors engaging with content promoting Donald Trump, mocking transgender people, and cheering on both actor Johnny Depp and podcaster Joe Rogan. For a show that built its fan base largely among younger, socially liberal viewers, the revelation landed like a betrayal.
Kalyn, who plays Dean, drew particular attention. As a Canadian public figure with a history of mocking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in comedic videos during the pandemic, his apparent embrace of American conservative politics struck many longtime followers as confusing at best.
When viewers began digging through his activity, they noticed something else: he appeared to be actively removing his own likes in real time, scrubbing his history even as screenshots of the original posts were already being passed around.
The attempted cleanup only added fuel to the story, with critics arguing that quietly deleting evidence is not the same as accounting for it.
Brooks, who has built a following for his recent work on another high-profile drama, was singled out by name in several of the leaked images, his username visible beneath a series of posts praising Rogan.
Clarke’s involvement rounded out what fans described as a pattern rather than a one-off mistake, with all three actors tied to content that ran counter to the values embedded in their own show’s storylines, including plots that dealt directly with healthcare access and the treatment of immigrants by federal agents.
The backlash has been swift, with some viewers saying they no longer plan to watch a second season and others calling for the actors to address the posts directly rather than let the account activity speak for itself.
What makes the timing especially pointed is that the Off-Campus fallout arrives just as Rogan himself is facing fresh criticism from within the comedy community over the same dynamic the actors are accused of endorsing.
Comedian Stavros Halkias, appearing on the New York Times culture podcast Popcast, took direct aim at podcast hosts who welcome powerful political figures onto their shows while insisting they remain neutral.
“You have the president on your podcast? The f**king president. No president’s good. You can’t be the president and be a good person. It’s impossible. I don’t want the president on my podcast,” Halkias said.
He argued the problem is not limited to politicians. Anyone with significant power, he said, deserves scrutiny rather than a friendly platform. “You can’t have these people on and suck their d*cks for two hours and not challenge them. The whole point of standup is you challenge that.”
Halkias, who hosts his own call-in podcast, framed the issue as one of comedic principle. Comedy, in his view, is supposed to punch up at authority, not cozy up to it.
“There’s a hierarchy to authority that you shouldn’t want to be around. Like these people are bad,” he said, suggesting that closeness to powerful guests dulls a comic’s instinct to push back.
His comments come as Rogan continues to describe himself as “politically homeless,” a label critics say does not hold up given his history of hosting Trump and other Republican figures on The Joe Rogan Experience, along with his broader role in shaping political attitudes among young male listeners ahead of the 2024 election. Detractors argue that handing a presidential candidate, or a sitting president, an uncontested hour of friendly conversation functions less like journalism and more like a public relations favor, regardless of how the host chooses to brand it.
For now, none of the three actors has issued a public statement addressing the posts.
