Noah Schnapp Comes Out As Gay: Let's Focus On Being Supportive

Actor Noah Schnapp, best known for his role as Will Byers on Stranger Things recently took to social media to come out as gay.

The 18-year-old shared a video on his TikTok account where he lip-synced to a voiceover which said, "You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, it will never be that serious."

The text on the TikTok read, "When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was, 'we know.'" In the caption, Schnapp added that he had more similarities with his character Will Byers than he previously thought.

While the majority of the response has been heartwarming and supportive, filled with users congratulating him on coming out and saying they were proud of him, there have also been some unsavoury responses to the news.

Suggested Reading: Kit Connor Controversy: Queerbaiting Accusations Claiming Agency Over Sexualities

Noah Schnapp Comes Out

Almost instantly, netizens used the news as an excuse to once again bring back jokes that Millie Bobby Brown is homophobic.

For obvious reasons, joking that Schnapp's close friend is homophobic and would hate crime him hours after he publically came out isn't the appropriate response.

When Brown was 14 years old, people began sharing memes which falsely attributed homophobic comments and beliefs to the actor. The posts were paired with the hashtag, #TakeDownMillieBobbyBrown and have persisted since then.

The bully reached such an extent that the then-14-year-old Brown deleted her Twitter account.

It's disappointing to see that some people saw Schnapp's coming out as an opportunity to bully a teenager instead of supporting him.

Still from Stranger Things

One Twitter user aptly wrote, "She's talked about how much that upset her and made her leave Twitter. Years later, people are still continuing the 'joke' using it to say she will commit hate crimes against her best friend. Vile."

Wouldn't it be disheartening for Schnapp to see that people saw the news that he came out and decided to joke that his friend hated him and wanted to kill him?

Schnapp explicitly mentioned that he was "scared in the closet for 18 years" and netizens responded by joking that Brown was homophobic.

One Twitter user congratulated Schnapp on coming out and mentioned that actors like Schnapp and Kit Connor were being aggressively hounded on social media to share their sexuality, just because they were in the public eye.

The public is not entitled to know a person's sexuality just because they're in the public eye. It also doesn't mean that people are allowed to joke that Brown is homophobic, despite her stating that the so-called jokes made her uncomfortable and led to her deleting her Twitter account.

Isn't it time we put people's comfort before our urge to make distasteful comments under the guise of being funny and making jokes?

Rather than spending time editing videos to imply Brown is homophobic and joking that everyone knew Schnapp was queer, why not just support the young actor for taking the brave step. After all, coming out can often be nerve-wracking and stressful. Why not make the process easier for not only Schnapp but for every queer person who is in the closet?

Views expressed are the author's own.