Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin called Joe Keery “mom” after a video of the actor defending his young costars resurfaced on TikTok.
“Joe’s really Mom bro. Truly an inspiration,” McLaughlin wrote in his comment on the video. It alludes to Keery’s character in the show, Steve Harrington, and the parental role he plays with the younger characters including McLaughlin’s.
The video, which has gone viral on TikTok, shows comedian and actor Patton Oswalt introducing the cast of Stranger Things at their 2017 San Diego Comic-Con panel.
Oswalt calls Finn Wolfhard, who was 14 at the time, “an actor born with the greatest porn name ever”. In the clip, Wolfhard is shocked by the comment and Keery is seen shaking his head and telling Wolfhard to “ignore him”. Jim Hopper actor David Harbour is also seen appearing to tell Wolfhard to “ignore it”.
Keery then appears to glare at the presenter.
Oswalt apologised for the comment at the time, writing on Twitter: “I thought I️ was being funny but was actually a graceless asshole. I’ve since apologised and, I hope, learned.”
Harbour recently commented about the impact of fame on his young co-stars in a conversation with The Los Angeles Times for its The Envelope podcast. The show’s central cast of “kids” were aged 11-14 when they began filming season one.
“There’s a lot of people that go through, I guess a lot worse stuff. But mentally and psychologically, I think getting extremely famous and being so doted on at 11 years old is really hard for the psyche to reconcile with,” Harbour said.
The finale of Stranger Things season four, Volume 2, premieres 1 July on Netflix.
