Caleb McLaughlin once again having to address how poorly he’s treated in comparison with his white co-stars by the fan base is once again a reminder of how fucking ugly this fandom can be. The fact that Lucas is a main party member and has been since day one, has been shown having important arcs, important relationships, and has been extremely vital to the plot in every single season and yet receives far less fan attention than his white counterparts is still the reality four seasons in and there’s a reason for that.
It’s the same reason Erica gets ignored and abused by the fandom. The same reason Argyle has received 1/100th of the attention Eddie has and the reason Steddie is far more popular than Jargyle despite Jonathan and Argyle actually having a relationship (and I like Eddie and Steddie so don’t come at me I’m just saying). The same reason Billy still has an extremely devoted fan base who call him a sweet baby boi and write endless fics about him despite him canonically being a racist asshole who literally threatened Lucas’s life just because he was black. It’s the reason Caleb gets snubbed for awards despite some extremely phenomenal acting, especially in the S4 finale. (hint: it’s racism).
Anyway, Lucas and Caleb are amazing and deserve everything and I just think the ST fandom as a whole needs to be cognizant of how the (very few!) POC in the cast are treated.
I WILL NEVER STOP TALKING ABOUT THIS