Caleb McLaughlin, known for playing Lucas Sinclair on Netflix's Stranger Things, has addressed the racism he has faced from the show's fandom.
The 20-year-old actor appeared at the Heroes Comic Con in Belgium on Sunday, September 25, and engaged in discussion with fans about his experience with racism while growing up in the public eye.
McLaughlin, who was just 14 when he first starred in the show, said that he doesn’t seem to receive the same amount of support from viewers compared to his costars: Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schnapp, Finn Wolfhard, and Gaten Matarazzo.
"My very first Comic Con, some people didn't stand in my line because I was Black. Some people told me, like, 'Oh, I didn't wanna be in line because you were mean to Eleven,'" he shared. "Even now, some people don't follow me or don't support me because I'm Black."
Watch him talk about his experience below:Given that the comic con event took place in Belgium, the Concrete Cowboy actor also spoke about how he's faced discrimination outside of the United States.
"Sometimes overseas, you’ll feel the racism," he went on. "You’ll feel the bigotry, and sometimes it’s hard to talk about and for people to understand."
McLaughlin also recalled the moment that his parents told him the "sad truth" that he was "the least favorite" and had the least followers out of the crew because he is the "Black child" on the show.
"Wow, that’s crazy. Because I was born with this beautiful chocolate skin I’m not loved?" he said.
"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," he added.
As of this month, some of the actor's costars have over 10 million more Instagram followers than he does - with 15.4 million people following McLaughlin.
Bobby Brown has 58.5 million, Schnapp has 27.6 million, Wolfhard has 26.3 million, Matarazzo has 18.7 million followers, and Sadie Sink - who joined the show a season later - has 24.9 million followers.
The video of McLaughlin talking about his experience was soon shared on social media, and fans were quick to call out the TV show's fandom for how they treated the star over the years.
One user said: "What really f***s me up about this is like, his character (who was a child) was mean to El in season 1…but Billy, who targeted Lucas because he was Black, has an entire fanbase who loves him and writes fanfiction about him."
Another commented: "Caleb is an OG Stranger Things cast member and has always been treated like he was the outsider. Lucas, the character doesn’t have a story outside of Max. Caleb himself has the [least] amount of followers. Least amount of opportunities. Always gets disrespected by the fan base."
A third wrote: "Wow. Didn’t know about this until now. Glad he spoke out. That is racism for you, folks. As for the 'the black kid who was mean to eleven' comment, people have to realize the difference between acting and genuine feelings. This kid had and still very much has genuine feelings."
Despite it all, McLaughlin refuses to yield to the level of racism and concluded his speech by saying: "But that's why with my platform I wanna spread positivity and love because I do not give hate back to people that give hate to me."
The young star's comments were met with cheers and praise from the event's crowd.