Millie Bobby Brown Is Homophobic / #TakeDownMillieBobbyBrown

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Part of a series on Stranger Things. [View Related Entries]

About

Millie Bobby Brown Is Homophobic, commonly associated with the hashtag #TakeDownMillieBobbyBrown, refers to a series of troll quotes and fake stories that are homophobic, Islamophobic, offensive, anti-gay and insensitive in nature falsely accredited to Stranger Things Millie Bobby Brown. The viral hoax initially began in late 2017 and spread over the following years, eventually leading to Brown reportedly deactivating her Twitter account due to cyberbullying related to the trend in 2018.

Origin

On November 17th, 2017, Twitter user @KelsFiona tweeted,^[1] "I saw Millie Bobby Brown in the airport and asked for a pic and she said 'only if you remove the hijab' and I said 'its my faith' and she aggressively pulled it off my head and stamped on it." The post (shown below, left) has since been deleted and the account suspended.

That day, after a fan of Millie Bobby Brown responded to the post, Twitter^[2] user @JoIIyBrandon responded with the first known usage of the hashtag "#TakeDownMillieBobbyBrown. The post (shown below) received more than 15 likes.

Spread

Following the post, people began reporting a series of fraudulent tweets supposedly made by the actor in which she uses homophobic and violent language. Twitter^[3] user @SANGRlAXWINE tweeted, "OKAY GUYS, THIS IS SO FAKE, JUST YOU NEED TO INCREASE EXPOSURE AND CONTRAST. SO HOW CAN YOU SEE IN THE PHOTO, THERE ARE LIKE 'PIXELS' AROUND THE LETTERS, WHAT IT MEANS THIS IS SOO FAKE. #TakeDownMillieBobbyBrown #WeLoveMillieBobbyBrown." The post (shown below) received more than 45 retweets and 175 likes.

Several media outlets covered the use of the hashtag and the campaign against Brown, including Babe.net,^[4] Popbuzz,^[5] and more.

Twitter Deactivation

On June 14th, 2018, Brown's Twitter account was deactivated, leading many to speculate that the controversy surrounding the hoax memes led to the account's removal. That day, CNN^[6] published an article titled "Millie Bobby Brown leaves Twitter amid cyberbullying."

Millie Bobby Brown's Response

On June 18th, 2018, during her acceptance speech for "Best Performance in a Show" for her role as "Eleven" on Stranger Things at MTV Movie and TV Awards, Millie Bobby Brown made a statement about bullying.^[7]^[8] She said:

"Since I know there are many young people watching this -- and even for the adults, too -- they could probably use the reminder that I was taught: if you don’t have anything nice to say, just don’t say it. There should be no space in this world for bullying, and I’m not going to tolerate it, and neither should any of you."

“Landing the role of Eleven in Stranger_Things</a> has changed my life.” Congratulations to Millie Bobby Brown for winning Best Performance in a Show ❤️| Tune into the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MTVAwards?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MTVAwards</a> right now on <a href="https://twitter.com/MTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">MTV! pic.twitter.com/dRODnOPKDz

— Movie & TV Awards (@MTVAwards) June 19, 2018

Millie Bobby Brown Is Calling

On May 28th, 2022, TikToker^[9] @sussyjiafei posted an edit of a Millie Bobby Brown selfie using a CapCut template to overlay an incoming call of her abruptly interrupting a video of two gay men exchanging affection, garnering over 4.2 million views in a year (seen below).

The "Millie Bobby Brown Is Calling" meme subsequently became a recurring trend on TikTok every May and June leading up to the LGBTQ+ Pride Month event to portray the actress as homophobic towards any type of LGBTQ-related content on the platform.

For instance, on May 31st, 2023, TikToker^[10] @xx_christmas.coochie_xx posted an edited clip of a gay man getting hit by a school bus with the overlay text "Millie at 12:00 am on June 1st." The video (seen below, left) garnered over 58,000 views and 10,200 likes in one day. Another example, uploaded on May 8th, by TikToker^[11] @lenanevermisses, shows an edited video of Millie planning to kill two men kissing at a beach when June 1st hits. The post (seen below, right) garnered over 298,000 views and 64,500 likes in one month.