Caleb McLaughlin, who plays one of the main characters Lucas Sinclair on Stranger Things, has addressed the racism he received from fans during his tenure on the show.
McLaughlin was part of the original cast and has remained on the show for the past eight years. He was just 14 when season one of Stranger Things premiered.
The esteemed actor has reflected on how he felt as a teenager when he wasn’t as well received as his fellow white cast members in a raw and touching speech during Heroes Comic Con Belgium on Sunday.
“It affected me when I was a kid. At my very first comic con, some people wouldn’t stand on my line because I was black, and some people told me that “oh I didn’t want to be in your line because you were mean to eleven”. Even now, people don’t follow me or support me because I’m black.”
He continued, “Sometimes overseas like you’ll feel the racism, you feel the… bigotry and it’s something sometimes it’s hard to talk about that and for people who don’t understand. But, when I was younger it definitely affected me a lot.
“You’re like, this is a deep conversation right now, but you’re like, ‘Why am I the least favourite? why don’t I have followers? I’m on the same as everybody else in season one’. But then my parents had to be like, ‘you know, it’s a sad truth, but it’s because you’re the black child in the show’.”
‘That’s crazy, because I was born with this beautiful chocolate skin, I’m not loved. But, that’s why with my platform I want to spread positivity and love because I don’t give hate back to people who gave hate to me.”
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here’s caleb talking about how he had to deal with racism just because he was “the black kid who was mean to eleven in season 1” and felt like it was important to share his thoughts on that 🙂 #StrangerThings #TUDUM #CalebMcLaughlin @HComicConBE pic.twitter.com/JZoXS9aaBW
— leon ☾ met timothée (@spideychaIamet) September 25, 2022
Fans were quick to share their disgust at the discriminatory treatment that McLaughlin has received, and to show their support for the actor.
“It’s so deeply disturbing how fandoms absolutely make excuses for white villains they find hot (even when their behavior is deeply unforgivable) but real Black performers are subject to racist hate for years because their characters didn’t treat the fandom favorites “properly’,” one user responded to the video.
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