Celebrity
“Stranger Things” Caleb McLaughlin Slammed The Bigotry As He Was Treated Differently By Fans For Being ‘Black’
His skincolor seems to be the reason he’s not as popular.
Everyone who’s watched the latest season of ‘Stranger Things’ can only agree that Caleb McLaughlin’s character, Lucas, is getting the screen time he so much deserved. There’s a lot of character development, and how his relationship with Max panned out had us all feeling all kinds of things.
And he’s also been part of the original D&D club since the first season that aired in 2016, along with Noah Schnapp, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, and Millie Bobby Brown.
Based in Hawkins, Indiana, were four young boys who loved playing D&D. Noah Schnapp’s character, Will Byers, went missing, and throughout the story, the four boys met Eleven, acted by Millie Bobby Browns, and saved the town and Will.
Caleb McLaughlin was always the main character, but through season 4, he played a major role as an adolescent, trying to navigate through his relationship, school life, and choosing the group he truly wants to be a part of.
But great things aside, it turns out Caleb was facing similar social discrimination to his character in the show, set in the ’80s when racism was predominantly shown in some characters.
He recalled how he didn’t receive the same amount of support as his costars and always noticed how the lines at meet-and-greets for him were always shorter than everyone else.
He spoke at Heroes Comic Con in Belgium and opened up about it always “affected” him as a child actor. And it was exacerbated by her parents, who said he was “the least favorite” because he was a “black child.”
He spoke, “My very first Comic-Con, some people didn’t stand in my line because I was Black. Some people told me: ‘Oh, I didn’t want to be in line because you were mean to Eleven,’ even now some people don’t follow me or don’t support me because I’m Black.”
“Sometimes overseas, you’ll feel the racism. You’ll feel the bigotry, and sometimes it’s hard to talk about and for people to understand.”
“When I was younger, it definitely affected me a lot because — this is a deep conversation right now — you’re like: ‘Why am I the least favorite? The least amount of followers? I’m on the same show as everybody from Season 1.”
“My parents had to be like: ‘It’s a sad truth, but it’s because you’re the Black child on the show,” he continued. “Wow, that’s crazy. Because I was born with this beautiful chocolate skin, I’m not loved?”
“That’s why, with my platform, I’m going to spread positivity and love because I’m not giving hate back to people who are giving hate to me.”
Fans have been resharing the clip of the interview on the internet, with many comparing him to a character from season 3, Billy Hargrove, played by Dacre Montgomery.
and yet somehow.. this racist ugly disease infected dirty low down thing still has a big fanbase who call him “baby 🥺” and write fan fictions about him despite the fact that he targeted lucas simply because he was black. the stranger things fandom can go to hell https://t.co/jrsFyusIC7 pic.twitter.com/oPDEdzZetb
— #1 song hyekyo anti (@hotsjun) September 26, 2022
We’re so happy to see that his fans have so much love to give to him!
