Stranger Things creators accused of verbal abuse
David Farnor | On 11, Mar 2018
Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer have been accused of verbal abuse by a female crew member. The allegations of verbal harassment on set were made on International Womens Day (Thursday 8th March), when Peyton Brown, a grip handler on the series, posted on Instagram that she would not be working on Season 3 of the programme.
“I guess there’s no better day than #nationalwomensday to say #timesup and announce that I will not be a part of the filming of Season 3 of Stranger Things,” she wrote.
“Why, you ask? Because I stand with my sisters. I personally witnessed two men in high positions of power on that set seek out and verbally abuse multiple women. I promised myself that if I were ever in a situation to say something that I would. I have 11.5 thousand followers who can hear me say this, TIME IS UP.”
Brown did not identify the people she was referring to, but a post by her in reply to someone else’s comment reportedly confirmed that she was referring to the Duffer brothers. That comment has since been removed, but Entertainment Tonight published a screenshot of it.
Netflix has since responded to the allegations, saying they had investigated the matter.
“We looked into the concern that was raised when we heard of the allegation on Thursday, and found no wrongdoing,” a spokesperson told EW. “Maintaining a safe, respectful atmosphere on set is important to us, and we know it is to the Duffer Brothers as well.”
“We are deeply upset to learn that someone felt uncomfortable on our set,” the Duffer Brothers have also said in a joint statement. “Due to the high-stress nature of production, tempers occasionally get frayed, and for that, we apologise. However, we think it is important not to mischaracterise our set, where we believe strongly in treating everyone fairly regardless of gender, orientation, race, religion, or anything else. We remain totally committed to providing a safe and collaborative working environment for everyone on our productions.”
“Women in the film industry are POWERFUL. We will rise and we will scream from mountain tops in support of each other and I will not contribute my time, efforts, and talent to such abusive people,” Brown’s post concluded. “There is too much going on in this world to be regressive. There are too many amazing and highly respected men in respective positions of power that I have had the utmost pleasure of working beside. Those are the people I want to surround myself with. Those are the projects I want to be a part of. This industry is no longer led by a “few good men,” but instead by an OCEAN of ASTOUNDING WOMEN. Enough is enough. For my sisters- Time is up.”