HERE’S a golden opportunity for Malaysians wanting to have a greater impact with their efforts to show solidarity with Palestine in the on-going Israel-Hamas conflict – boycott Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things.
It was recently reported that the show’s star, Noah Schnapp, faced significant social media scrutiny and backlash following the viral spread of a video where he distributed stickers with controversial messages, including “Hamas is ISIS” and “Zionism is sexy” on various social media platforms.
A 16-second video – initially posted by @mayybyers and later shared by @gomezquality – captured Schnap and his associates distributing the controversial stickers, has swiftly amassed close to 50 million views since its upload on X (formerly Twitter) on Nov 13.
Noah Schnapp handing out “Hamas is Isis” and “Zionism is sexy” stickers pic.twitter.com/PXVHC80Jmt
— lexie (@gomezquality) November 13, 2023
Netizen @shutupnoor_ fervently urged individuals to refrain from endorsing the forthcoming fifth season of Stranger Things where Schnap is expected to be the main character, declaring: “Everyone should boycott Stranger Things 5. That’s the least one can do to show their solidarity with Palestine.”
Rather than boycott local fast-food chains with alleged ties to Israel, Malaysians should refuse to tune into the hugely popular series. One main benefit of this protest is that it will have no direct impact on Malaysian employees as in the case of those working at the affected fast-food franchises.
More pertinently, it will have significantly higher profile as a protest. The sci-fi series is hugely popular worldwide – including Malaysia – with Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings crediting the show as almost single-handedly saving the streaming giant’s subscriber base in 2022.
Stranger Things Season 4 was a huge success for Netflix. Between both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, the series pulled in 1.27 billion hours viewed and given how popular the season was with viewers, it certainly does make sense that many subscribers may have stayed with Netflix just to see how the season wrapped up as well as how it sets up for the final season.
Malaysians wanting to show solidarity with Palestine should deactivate their subscriptions and leave a clear message on Netflix sites underlining their motivation for doing so.
It would certainly have greater visibility internationally and perhaps force celebrities like Schnapp to carefully consider the consequences of their actions.
Malaysians may be ready to give up their Big Mac’s but will they be able to resist the pull of season 5 of Stranger Things? – Nov 15, 2023
