So You Can Force Teens To Kiss If It’s For A Hit Series

Kevin Spacey, we’ve found your caveat. Things are finally cleared up for those of us confused as to what constitutes as sexual misconduct in Hollywood now that we know it’s okay for grown men to make kids kiss even after they express discomfort verging on dread. I don’t watch Stranger Things because I don’t like to think about the fact that Winona Ryder has aged like a hundred-year-old field hand during the Dust Bowl, and I don’t like boring stupid television shows, but those who do watch the series are obsessed, to the point that Netflix has introduced the Talking Dead-esque fan discussion series Beyond Stranger Things for the second season. This is where Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink confessed that she was terrified about shooting a kissing scene,  but was still all but forced into it by the series’ grown male creators, Matt and Ross Duffer.

The instance is exacerbated by the fact that the Duffer brothers Angelina Jolie-ed their way around the set, evening using the word “torture” when describing their interactions with the shows’ many child actors:    

You’d think it’s the end of the world but I guess it’s a big deal……. neither of those kisses were written in the script so we kind of dropped that on them the day of and caused a major panic. But they did it.

You have to torture them a little bit. You know you’ve got to entertain yourself some way. And we have all these children who are just fun. I know exactly how to push their buttons at this point.

On Beyond Stranger Things, the fifteen-year-old Sink revealed that she was told the inception of her kissing scene with sixteen-year-old Caleb McLaughlin was actually hers when she took Ross Duffer’s supposed joke seriously. Everything’s cool guys. She wanted it:

The kiss was not written in the script. I get there, the first day of Snow Ball….. One of you, I think it was you Ross, you say, ‘Oh, Sadie, you ready for the kiss?’ I’m like, ‘What! No! That’s not in the script. That’s not happening.’ So the whole day I was like stressed out, I was like ‘Oh my god, wait, am I gonna have to…’

Sounds like someone with the level of maturity that would allow them to make adult decisions under the immense pressure of filming a hit series. Duffer responded to Sink with:

You reacted so strongly to this. I was just joking and you were so freaked out that I was like well, I gotta make her do it now.

To which Sink asked:

That’s why it’s my fault?

Duh slut. Now Sink is back to clarify her comments to The Wrap, and by clarify I mean pull a one-eighty:

I mean, of course I was nervous because it’s a first kiss, right? But I never objected to [it] or felt pushed into anything. I always felt comfortable and the Duffer Brothers, they do the best job. And always create a comfortable space. And if I felt uncomfortable with anything, I wouldn’t have done it.

What could have been construed as Sink’s #MeTooJr. moment is being swept under the rug after the release of this super genuine apology that wasn’t at all scripted by her handlers. Fans are assuaging fears of sexual coercion by pointing out that Sink’s mother was on set during filming. And she’ll keep counting her daughter’s money on set right up until Sink turns into a whore and disowns her. If you would like to see how the rest of Sink’s teen years will play out, I refer you to the tale of Ariel Winter and a woman who we just call Crystal.   

^{Photo Credit: Netflix}