Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown has deactivated her Twitter account after being repeatedly targeted by a homophobic meme.
Users have been using images of the 14 year old actor, and overlaying them with captions containing multiple anti-gay slurs. The manner in which they are presented suggests that Brown actually made these comments.
The meme is intended to be ironic, given Millie Bobby Brown’s track record in when it comes to supporting LGBTQ rights. Last year the actor wore a pin showing her support for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to the MTV Awards, and she also set up a Twitter handle named @Milliestopshate to counter bullying and spread positivity. The likelihood of Brown actually saying these homophobic statements is incredibly low, and users spreading the meme say that it is intended as a joke.
https://twitter.com/Hail_Lordriah/status/1005715956172091392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fon-demand%2F2018%2F06%2F14%2Fstranger-things-star-millie-bobby-brown-driven-twitter-homophobic%2F
The meme reportedly originates from a tweet last year which gave a fictional account of Millie Bobby Brown forcibly removing a fan’s hijab.
Outside of Twitter, the Stranger Things star has been continuing to support important causes. Earlier this year Millie Bobby Brown wore a jacket dedicated to the seventeen people who lost their at the Parkland school shooting in February 2018. The jacket also features the embroidered names of all 17 students and staff who tragically died in the shooting on February 14.
Back in April Millie Bobby Brown was named as the youngest ever person on the TIME 100 list. The Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul penned an essay praising the young actor, who played Stranger Things’ Eleven when she was just 12.
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“She may have been 12 in years, but her spirit and mind were timeless”, Paul said of first meeting the teenager in New York.
“A wise woman was speaking from her cherubic face. It was like speaking to a future mentor with a perspective and groundedness that I could only have dreamed of at that age. Or at any age, if I’m being honest.”