Over the weekend, a fan called Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard out for not stopping to say hi to them when leaving his hotel. The tweet caught the attention of Shannon Purser (who played Stranger Things' Barb), who defended the 14-year-old actor. "No actor is under any obligation to stop for anyone," she wrote. "Finn is an incredibly kind human. But he's human and he needs breaks too."
This afternoon, Sophie Turner, who got her break when she was 13 as Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones, shared her thoughts on the treatment of the Stranger Things child stars. "Damn... seeing fully grown adults wait outside the 'Stranger Things' kids' hotels etc, and then abuse them when they don't stop for them is super weird," she wrote in a series of tweets. "A. What adult in their right mind waits for a CHILD outside their hotel and B is then is offended when the CHILD doesn't stop? It doesn't matter if they are an actor... they are kids first. Give them the space they need in order to grow without feeling like they owe anyone anything for living their childhood dreams."
"Oh and ps," she added two hours after her first tweets. "Imagine.. you, a parent, walking with your 13 year old son/daughter and seeing a fully grown adult pointing their camera phone at your kid. You would do anything you could to delete that persons photograph, and remove your child from that situation as soon as you could. It doesn't matter if that child happens to be an actor and consented to a professional film crew capturing their moves when in character.. That does NOT mean that this child consented to being followed around with a camera in their face. I don't care if it 'comes with the job'. It doesn't."
"And how dare you shun and demean that child when they don't pose for an adult strangers photograph or walk over and talk to them when they take that NOT CONSENTED FOR photo," she continued. "Doesn't that go against everything we teach our children anyway? Pshhhh. Some people man."
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
