It’s probably a good thing The Summer I Turned Pretty star Gavin Casalegno says he stays off Instagram, considering how much fan hatred is directed his way on social media. In the Prime Video coming-of-age drama, the actor plays Jeremiah Fisher, one of two brothers vying for the heart of Belly Conklin (Lola Tung).
And viewer vitriol toward Jeremiah has gotten intense, especially with the revelation that he may have cheated on his now-fiancée. Even Delta Airlines said it would assign the character a lavatory seat. In a new interview, Casalegno told The New York Times that fans confront him in person about their Jeremiah feelings. “It’s pretty comical,” he said.
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The humor of the situation aside, Casalegno wants fans to understand he is not his Summercharacter. “They tend to dislike him, yes,” he said. “I don’t check Instagram anymore, so I really haven’t seen that much hate. The only thing that I see is my sister sending me the memes that are really funny. I think it’s important to also understand and realize that this is a fictional story — and it’s also not me. … I don’t think there’s a single human being in the world who can carry the emotional negativity to the degree that stuff like this happens.”
Ahead of the ongoing third season, the Summer I Turned Pretty social media channels released PSAs asking fans to “keep the conversation kind this summer” and emphasizing its “zero-tolerance policy for bullying and hate speech.” But Casalegno observed that such efforts aren’t working: “Amazon did a good job of stepping in and being like, ‘Hey, no bullying.’ Though, not really going so well.”
Even so, Casalegno said starring in The Summer I Turned Pretty is a “dream job” he landed after producers spent “six to nine weeks” looking for their Jeremiah. “When I read the character breakdown, I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this dude seems really fun.’ It was very much like sunshine and golden retriever vibes,” he said. “And I had seen Jenny Han’s work in the past, and I felt like this would be a great project to be a part of. I wasn’t wrong.”
The Summer I Turned Pretty, Season 3, Wednesdays, Prime Video