'Stranger Things' star Noah Schnapp is addressing the social media backlash and calls for the boycott of his upcoming show, over his comments on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Last week, the makers announced that 'Stranger Things Season 5' officially began filming and shared a photo of the cast members. On spotting Schnapp in the picture with Millie Bobby Brown, #BoycottStrangerThings took over top trends with many demanding that the team either fire Noah or kill off his character Will Byers, for his comments on the ongoing conflict.
In the wake of the social media storm surrounding his appearance on the show, Noah on Wednesday, issued a statement in a video posted on TikTok. Noah began by acknowledging the online discussions and controversies that have emerged and expressed the need to set the record straight. He said, "I feel like my thoughts and beliefs have been so far misconstrued from anything even close to what I believe and I wanted to just state from my heart how I feel. I only want peace and safety and security for all innocent people affected by this conflict."
Emphasizing that his intentions were centred on advocating for peace, he also expressed a desire for harmony between the two groups in the region, and firmly stated his opposition to any killing of innocent people on either side of the conflict. The actor said, "I’ve had many open discussions with friends from Palestine standing in background, and I think those are very important conversations to have and I’ve learned a lot. One of the takeaways I’ve had is that we all hope for the same things, that being those innocent people still being held hostage in Gaza to be returned to their families and equally hope for an end to the loss of innocent life in Palestine — so many of those people being women and children, and it’s horrible to see."
He also urged increased understanding and compassion in the online sphere, emphasizing the shared humanity among individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, background, or any other factor. "I hope for 2024 online to see people be a little more understanding and compassionate and recognize that we’re all human, regardless of our race, of our ethnicity, of our background, of our country of birth, of our sexuality, of anything."
Noah concluded with a plea for unity, saying, "We are all human and we’re all the same and we should all love each other for that and support each other and stand together. And stand together for humanity and for peace."
Noah‘s statements and videos seeing him holding up a "Zionism is sexy," sticker caused many to want to boycott Stranger Things, and prompted calls to 'cancel' him online.