Millie Bobby Brown has received a considerable amount of unwarranted flack ever since Stranger Things thrust her into the spotlight, and most of it is over the dumbest things or the mere fact she is a teenager. Now things have taken a turn into dramatic irony territory following her UN speech on bullying.
To commemorate World Children’s Day, the Stranger Things star and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador gave a big speech at the UN headquarters in New York, where she shared her experiences about all the cyber-bullying and online abuse she’s received despite being only 15.
It’s some seriously great stuff from Millie Bobby Brown, whose speech not only included some awful-sounding personal anecdotes but also an impassioned plea for equal rights for children worldwide.
“I’ve been very lucky in my life. I take nothing for granted. But I also know what it feels like to be vulnerable. At school, I was bullied by a group of students. I remember feeling helpless. School used to be a safe place. Now I was scared to go.
“I was lucky. With the help of my friends, family and people around me, I was able to overcome these negative feelings and take my power back. But millions of children aren’t so lucky. They’re still struggling in the darkness.”
So where’s the dramatic irony about bullying that was mentioned at the beginning of the story?
Well Millie Bobby Brown shared a video of her speech to her Instagram and it was inundated with supportive comments from her pals and fans. But the internet being the internet, there were also a bunch of awful comments such as:
“Not even a bad thing but she looks 25 here.”
“omg she looks so old wth.”
” In this video you look like a 45 yr old women who just got a divorce and lost custody of the kids.”
“So tripped out. millie looks 26 in this.”
Trolls bullying someone as they’re giving a speech about bullying. If it weren’t so serious and ridiculous, this whole saga would almost be amusing.
It may seem like she’s been around for ages due to how big Stranger Things is, but people seem to forget that Millie Bobby Brown is only 15, meaning she’s at the stage in her life where saying and doing dumb things is the norm.
But bullying her while she’s talking about something as serious as bullying and children’s rights is a new low, even for internet trolls.
Massive props to MBB for not only doing things to raise awareness about bullying and children’s rights, but also for her ability to handle the torrent of irrational and confounding hate trolls throw at her. To have developed an iron skin like that at just 15 is just admirable.