How do I remove starring someone?

[Ryuseki]

Why did they think having an annoying pop up that lingers on the side of the screen was a good idea. Any way to completely remove this?

[gold]

they added it so you can know which person are you playing with '-'

[Lindon]

There's no current way to remove the UI element for it, there may be a mod that allows it in the future however.

Your best bet is to go to Options > Network and keep it set to ON, as unless you're on Mission 13 it's more unlikely you'll run into as many players for the cameo system to even be used. Disabling it will prevent you running into other players, but will then use developer ghost data where appropriate instead, resulting in the pop up appearing with "THE DMC CREW" instead.