memes

Yep. I think the term for it a parasocial interaction.

None of these people are our friends. They're just people on our TV screens, or other devices. Many of them are actors and are simply acting in a way that makes them likeable. Some of them are good people, others aren't. There's no way of knowing based on what we see on our screens.

If something on a screen is entertaining, that's good. You've been entertained, you got the product you wanted. But that in no way indicates anything about the people that created the product, good or bad.

Also if you find out that someone that makes that entertainment product is a shitty person and that negatively affects the entertainment value of the product, just find entertainment elsewhere. That is a normal and healthy way to handle it. People may characterize this to be "cancel culture" but those people are either weirdos or people in show business who have an incentive to continue this idea that the audience is somehow obligated to watch the things they put out.