Caleb McLaughlin opens up on the racism he faced from ‘Stranger Things’ fans

Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin has revealed he faced racism from fans of the show. McLaughlin, who plays Lucas Sinclair in the Netflix show, said that the experience “took a toll” on him.

“My very first Comic-Con, some people didn’t stand in my line because I was black,” he told fans at a Belgian convention. The 20-year-old has starred in the show since he was 14 and will appear in the upcoming fith and final season. He is one of Stranger Things’ five main characters, all of whom also joined the show in series one, alongside Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo and Millie Bobby Brown.

During an on-stage appearance at Heroes Comic Con in Brussels, McLaughlin discussed the fact that the other actors have more Instagram followers than him. In a video shared on Twitter by an attendee, he says he asked his parents why he was the “least favourite” even though he was “on the same show as everybody”.

“My parents had to be like, ‘It’s a sad truth, but it’s because you’re the black child on the show. Because I was born with this beautiful chocolate skin, I’m not loved.”

He said people had avoided him at early meet-and-greet events, telling him it was “because you were mean to Eleven”, referring to Lucas’s hostility towards Millie Bobby Brown’s character in season one.”Even now some people don’t follow me or don’t support me because I’m black,” he told fans in Belgium.

“Sometimes overseas you feel the racism, you feel the bigotry. Sometimes it’s hard to talk about and for people to understand, but when I was younger it definitely affected me a lot.”