People are cheering Netflix star Brett Gelman after he came out swinging at homophobes who are angry about two male main characters' gay romance.
When Gelman, who plays Murray Bauman on the series, recently tweeted his support for the budding romance between characters Will Byers and Mike Wheeler--or "Byler" as fans have named them--Gelman was hit with several homophobic comments from people angry about the gay storyline.
Gelman wasn't having any of it and put them firmly in place in a subsequent tweet, calling the angry fans "pathetic" and taking them to task for their homophobia. See his tweet below.
Gelman wrote:
"It’s pretty pathetic that all you little homophobes think calling me gay is an insult. It’s a compliment. So thank you."
"I ship love in whatever form it takes baby. And y’all who don’t. Maybe you’re scared to look at something."
The controversy began when Gelman tweeted about how he hopes to see the "Byler" romance storyline play out.
Addressing the ongoing love triangle between Will, Mike and the female character Eleven, with whom Will has had a romance in recent seasons of the show, Gelman wrote:
"I am for Byler if Byler is for Byler. If it’s a match then it should be so."
"I’m not for Byler if Mike isn’t for it because then Will gets hurt. And I also don’t want El to have a broken heart."
"But if Byler is what is meant to be then I ship Byler BIG TIME!!!"
Many fans were elated to see that a member of the cast is as invested in a gay outcome from the Will, Mike and Eleven entanglement as they are.
But not everybody was happy about the plot twist.
Some felt it didn't make sense within the context of previous seasons' character arcs. But others were just downright homophobic, and soon Gelman was getting trolled by people trying to drag him using homophobes' perennial favorite insult: calling him gay.
If you're rolling your eyes, you're certainly not alone. Many people on Twitter found the controversy ridiculous, and they applauded Gelman for telling the homophobes off and supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
Gelman also said he ships Will and Eleven "if that's what's meant to be." Fans may be dying to find out who ends up with who, but at least they have an ally in Gelman regardless.
