On October 7, Hamas, the political and military organization governing the Gaza Strip, attacked the state of Israel, killing over 1,100 people and taking over 200 hostage. Since then, Israel has been attacking Gaza. According to Reuters, over 24,000 Palastinians have been killed since the attacks began. Last week, South Africa made headlines when it made a case in the International Court of Justice in the Hague that Israel was committing genocide.
Not long after the October 7 attack, Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp (Will Byers) posted a now-deleted video calling out followers who appear to support Hamas' actions in Israel, saying he was "afraid...as a Jewish American." A month later, he was seen in another video where he was holding up stickers with slogans like "Zionism is Sexy."
This did not play well, with some Stranger Things fans vowing to boycott the upcoming fifth and final season unless Schnapp was replaced. Now, Schnapp has posted a new video where he attempts to calm things down. “I feel like my thoughts and beliefs have been so far misconstrued from anything even close to what I believe,” he said. “I only want peace and safety and security for all innocent people affected by this conflict.”
"I’ve had many open discussions with friends from Palestinian backgrounds. Those are very important conversations to be had and I’ve learned a lot, and one of the takeaways I've had is we all hope for the same things: that being those innocent people still being held hostage in Gaza be returned to their families, and equally help to the loss of innocent life in Palestine, so many of those people being women and children, and it's horrible to see. And I think anyone with any ounce of humanity would hope for an end to the hostilities on both sides. I stand against any killing of any innocent people, and I hope you guys all do to. And I just hope to one day to see those two groups live harmoniously together in that region. And I hope for 2024 online for people to be a little more understanding and compassionate."
Schnapp finished by calling for unity. “We are all human and we are 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 peace,” he said.
Schnapp isn't the only Stranger Things cast member to come under fire for comments about Israel. Brett Gelman, who plays investigative journalist and conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman on the show, posted some bizarre videos in the wake of the October 7 attack. "Hi Gen Z and all you other fake woke liberals, here's a little something for you," he said in an Instagram video posted on October 14. He returned to that theme in another video not long after. "Hey fake woke liberal Americans," he started before breaking out into song: "Guess who actually lives on stolen land? You do. Guess who actually lives on stolen land? You do you, me Jew. You live on stolen land."
All of this could result in a PR nightmare for Stranger Things when its fifth and final season finally debuts in 2025. Or it may have blown over by then. I'm inclined to give Schnapp more benefit of the doubt than Gelman, since Schnapp is 19 and 19-year-olds do things they come to regret all the time, whereas Gelman is a grown man blaming "the wokes" and singing into a camera about colonialism. It's one thing to be publicly cringey about sensitive topics when you're a teenager, another when you're an adult.
But we don't know what the court of public opinion will have to say a year from now when Stranger Things returns with new episodes, nor do we know what the state of Israel and Gaza will be.
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h/t NewsWeek