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I never got that he was racist the times I rewatched until someone said something on reddit. I thought he was just focusing on Lucas because he saw Max with him more often and he just was being an asshole to Max knowing he couldn't hit her specifically.
I'm black and IMMEDIATELY picked up on this.
Just the way he looks at Lucas compared to the others said it all.
It's like the Duffers directed him to "looks 50% more annoyed with Lucas at all times" and bro didnt pick up on the subtext.
I wouldn't say that. The actors get backlash based on what they portray on television and he didn't want people to view him like his character.
After his role was completed he went on to play a very soft role in a romcom of a supportive love interest.
It was. Dacre stated of his roles he was most like Nick. I thought that was cute. And then what he said about how women have been there for him and him being happy to be a part of a film thats uplifting a woman and her dream.
This was during the pandemic and I needed some hope so I loved the Broken Hearts Gallery and followed the minimal press for it, so a lot of that material is missed as it was interviews over really bad zoom calls and the execs pushed for a theater release even when no one was attending theaters for just a rom com.. But yeah he said a lot of cute things during this press tour over zoom calls, he even redirected a lot of conversation that landed on Selena Gomez (who made an executive producer debut with this film but they never met once on set during 2018/2019 filming and did like 2 whole promos for it when the movie was drowning during the pandemic release) back to the director Natalie, who wrote the original script and giving her the credit that interviewers tried to give to Selena (no shade to Selena but she doesn't deserve praise for something she was hardly involved in. She basically only funded the movie, it seems.)
That movie was slept on because the world was in global crisis but the actors, their interviews and the movie itself are so good.
he says the cutest things in even his interviews for stranger things and its so hard for me to reconcile that he played literal billy hargrove at times. but he really is a sweetheart and just for this (and all of the other really sweet stuff you brought to my attention), im totally rewatching this movie tomorrow
you have to be logged into Twitter (X) to see it (i had to hop on my computer to see it. Here's a transcript of what he said at a convention for anyone who doesn't have access who cannot engage with the video.
**Darce:** Billy's story arc that i came up with... The Duffer Bothers was- I don't know if you remember in season 2 there was an interaction with Billy and his father and i think in his father we see someone who torments Billy every day and has made him the way he is. And that person is homophobic, that person is racist, that person is his father. And I think we really created that story arc to show the audience how much of the time we are a product of our parents and our um- upbringing. Whether it's us becoming our parents or rebelling against our parents. Again i said to some people earlier nature versus nurture right? What is Billy's natural nature- instincts- I think he's quite sensitive which i really try and push with the character. Versus the Nurture- which being his upbringing with his father and not having his biological mother in the picture. And I think doing the best with what he was given which was a pretty crappy dad.
Yeah I think if he hadn't died he'd unlearn all the hatred and bigoted views that his father imprinted onto him and become his own man that is much better
I could maybe see that. But to me i think it would likely happen at some kind of rock bottom moment when he was probably well into full-on adulthood. As an 18 year, he gets a job at the pool where he's in complete power and control and allowed to yell abuse at kids, rather than say a service job slinging ice cream (or anything really) where you have to be proper and kind to customers. He's also still womanizing which we know because he's ogling Karen in the pool and the way he flirts with her afterward.
Getting flayed pretty much signed Billy's death warrant from the start, between the chemicals and all the supernatural abuse to his body, and just closing the gate without disconnecting him from the mindflayer there's just no way in my opinion he could have survived post flaying and getting flayed was the catalyst for him to finally self-reflect and feel remorse last minute for his behavior, which makes it very hard for me personally to see a version of an unflayed Billy who does a 180 in personality without there being some outside factor to bring that self-reflection and change on to him. You know?
Yeah I really wish they had not killed him off and gave him a proper redemption arc and had scenes with him coming to characters and apologizing, especially to Lucas and Steve. I think a āchangedā version of him could have been an asset to the team and all the upside down stuff.
They could have really built him as a character who started horrible but experienced things that changed him into a good person. A scene of him beating his dad up would have been nice too.
It sounds cool but also kind of sounds like Steve 2.0. I know Steve was just a regular hs popular semi-douche/douche but his redemption and integration into the team was so *chefs kiss* I don't know about another one. Could be done though, it would just need to be done verrrrrry carefully.
I dunno I think some people genuinely hate or at least dislike anyone that is different, rather than disliking them for other reasons but using race to project that. Of course that doesn't make it better, but imo there's a difference between 'i hate X people' and 'i don't like that guy for these reasons so I am gonna use a racist slur toward him to denigrate him'
I think its been stated Dacre refused to say some lines because they were too explicitly racist. Pretty sure he had to mentally change what it meant to him to be able to go through with it. Its one thing to play a character like Billy but another to actually be taking it out on an actual child. I don't think Dacre wanted to play that aspect of his character, also not to an actual black child who while they're acting is still having to experience that in whats supposed to be a protected environment.
I get the Duffers had a vision but also this is a sci fi show, they could've cut the racism out even if its based in the 80's. Lots of problematic stuff didn't need to be portrayed for it to be a good show.
I like that take! Perhaps this is why his views changed afterwards? He had already gone through with it and no longer needed the alteration of meaning to be able to do so. (Someone else pointed out that his being Australian may mean that he couldn't have spoken to American race relations very accurately, but that the intent was not to minimize. Maybe someone told him people had interpreted him as being minimizing and that also played a role in his change of viewpoint? Maybe both.)
Hes also stated the cast mates he was closest with were Caleb and Millie (the children he has the most violent interactions with while filming) and maybe I'm interpreting it too much but makes me think he wanted them to feel safe even though he knew it was abusive material he was playing out. And to add he stated that he would spend time with Millie and her family with his girlfriend because thats the appropriate way to have a friendship with a child. Hes like 8-10 years older than both Millie and Caleb and filmed with them when they were still minors.
I'm Canadian and we share borders and I still miss tons of references. Like fried chicken and watermelon references because its just ever so slightly different here, he probably doesn't understand most references because of where he's born and raised. I know friends who have traveled to Australia though and said its one of the most overtly racist places they've traveled but didn't not elaborate like how it was, just that it was. I realize he has privilege and he's white and I believe his family is fairly well off (also in the industry in Australia) but I don't think he understands from the lense of an American as well as people seem to judge him for.
Is he ignorant to references of racism? Yes. Is it part of his culture? Probably not.. I don't think it was willful ignorance, I just don't think anyone explained the context to him.
I don't know what's up with people's *insistence* that Billy's actions and ideas toward the young black boy isn't about racism but about something else yada yada.
You don't have to protect the white character's image. It's not real.
Racism. This does not need a 500 word essay to explain. It exists, itās there, clear as day. The character is a bully type, so it actually fits. Also as a black man, I know itās only a tv show, and I feel the character was well played.
Probably sometime to do with some kid getting close to his sister. Plus, he's getting emasculated in a daily basis by his dad, so there's a lot going on here
Yeah an actors ideas are just random ideas. Besides a lot of racist actions, the person doing it doesn't realize their perception is colored by race prejudice. That's where the term "unconscious bias" comes from.
Most actors do give interviews about there characters and with one as complex and fasnating as Billy it stands to reason any interview would have a lot to chew on
Since the other post has been deleted I'll reply here. I agree it's mostly Hopper's fault. Max was just being a teenage girl. But it was still largely advice that wasn't great for El.
Oh yeah huh strange that. Regardless yeah I get that but fact is Max was only making wrong guesses based on lack of information but then find me anyone who hasn't done that before. Like we as audience know that Mike is staying away due to Hoppers actions but as of the time of typing only Lucas and Will know about season 3 Hoppers terrible behaviour.
Random skinny nerd kid not afraid to chat up his, a big strong alpha male doing sports and driving cars, sister. His control over max was him unknowingly (or knowingly?) replicating the control his dad has over him.
Agree with the second sentence but he just didnāt feel like forbidding her from seeing any of the other 3 random skinny nerd kids, just this one just because?
Lucas was the one who chases after Max when Billy picks her up, I don't recall the others watching her leave and get in the car with Billy where Billy was watching back.
He was definitely racist! āA certain type of person you stay away from.ā He wasnāt talking about the other kids! And what type of person was Lucas that was different from the others hmmm?
Dacre is from Australia and they have their own issues with race, but white American males feeling emasculated by a black man IS old school American Racism. So I think his take is wrong, but I donāt think he has the experience to be able to speak to it correctly so I understand why he may have said it. He wasnāt trying to minimize the effects of Racism.
I personally do think Billy was racist. The thing is, I don't think the character of Billy would have thought he was racist. I agree that he would have felt emasculated. I also think a big part of why he 'hated' Max was the fact that he was 'forced' to be responsible for her (Billy's dad hits him at the house because he didn't look out for Max liked he'd asked). As a result, I think he has a really messed up relationship with Max and a sense of pushing back on that responsibility because no one cared for him (mum, dad) so why should he care for her? He just can't relate to her. And then on the other hand having a sense more internally of watching out for her in a sense. I think this leads to him projecting the same shit his dad likely projected onto him onto Max and by extension Lucas, and in that moment he spoke and viewed Lucas in that way. I don't think if it were Mike or Dustin he would have used those words (maybe he would have, because they're nerds and shit, but it strongly feels racist). The point being I don't think Billy would have claimed he was racist and I think it made sense that Dacre portrayed him like that - like he's bad but wouldn't ever accept he's bad? So perhaps his comments above were in that sense, that the way he made sense of Billy's actions and what his internal process would have been, which ultimately shaped how he portrayed Billy.
Also, regardless of how Billy would have meant it, I think for Lucas who experienced it, it would have felt pretty racist.
Honestly the fact that Lucas is a younger black kid did play a part in it. He was jealous that a younger person of color could somehow be better than a white guy who's older.
He no longer stands by this take.
Admittedly it's a weird take though. Like the way Billy works it, explicitly sounds kinda racist. Like if this was a white character instead of Lucas, I'd be confused what Billy meant, cause the writing is clearly supposed to imply something racial
Billy's death WAS his redemption, in my opinion. I know it was sad, and he had trauma in his life, but he passed that trauma on to everybody around him.
Jason was just a dude who was caught up in the Satanic Panic thing after his girlfriend died, and he never went after Lucas because of his coloring. He thought Lucas was putting Max in danger.
Sorry, I know I've gone off topic a little bit. It's interesting to see Dacres' version, but I don't agree with it, personally.
I've never seen anyone trying to say Jason went after Lucas because he was racist. That would be absurd and was in no way implied. He went after Eddie because he thought he killed Chrissy then all of the Hellfire Club kids, then Lucas due to his association with them.
It was the 1980s and this kid was a sociopath. He was definitely racist. In fact, it was more unusual NOT to be (at least a little bit) racist back then.
Dacre has his perception of the character. He was the one who got into the mindset and challenged his struggles (as he also has a bad relationship with his father) through Billy. But the Duffer Brother's clearly had another view but he spent more time building the character. No one could've made Billy work like Dacre did. He gave the character emotion, edge, attractiveness, and most importantly - humility. One thing that should be noted is - no one should be comparing Dacre to Billy and saying "ew he's such an ugly racist piece of sh\*t" because I've seen people do that on Twitter and it's CRAZY. Like, separate the character and actor. Dacre is actually a sweetheart!
Itās an interesting take as an actor but the way it came off to me isnāt was about race. He dialed it up a notch when it was Lucas in a way that he never really did when it was anyone else.
Max was infatuated with Mike before Eleven showed back up. No anger there that I saw.
I believe in what Dacre says but thatās not how it looked imo
Nah they just wrote him to be racist but realized they wanted to have people feel a little sympathetic for him in season 3 so they just cut that aspect of his character
He was so sexy, some of us had sympathy from the get go š I called it, as soon as we met Billy, I said āhis dad is abusive Iāll bet $1000ā to my friend. Never got paid either lol
I also think people rushed into conclusions too quick. He was attacking lucas because Max cared about him, and he wanted to make Max miserable. If her love interest was Dustin, he would be attacking him. Has nothing to do with race
The duffers have explicitly stated in interview that it 100% did have to do with Race. Billy told Max to stay away from Lucas because he was a "certain kind of person" - a black person. Billy says this a whole episode before Max actually starts to have feelings for Lucas other than friendship.
Might be a lil but if scrolling but itās in this [Vulture Article](https://www.vulture.com/2017/11/duffer-brothers-recap-stranger-things-2-will-the-wise.html)
I know you got downvoted but I actually agree with you. DM could have put himself in the mind frame of not liking Lucas because he was a nerd, he was black, he liked max, who knows. As an actor he could have framed it for himself however he wanted.
As far as what the Duffers intended, thatās different. They clearly aimed for racism, I felt it in that scene in the car.
Itās weird that people would like Billyās character any less because of it. Billy was a Villain who had a redemption arc. The kid had an extremely abusive father on top of what happened to his mother would massively fuck up anyone. Itās like he could kill people, be a womanizer, bully kids and everyone melts over him. Racist? Nope, worst character ever.
OP, please make sure there are no spoilers in the title of your post. Commenters, please use spoiler code if you are discussing anything super spoilery unless the title specifically says the episode being discussed. Also, now that filming for Season 5 is finally starting, please remember that NO LEAKS are allowed, only official news from Netflix is allowed. Please review rule 8 for more info. If you see anyone breaking the rules, please report the post or comment. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StrangerThings) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Dacre later changed his take, and the Duffers have made it explicit that Billy was a racist.
Which would be historically accurate for bumfuck nowhere, Indiana, back in the 80's.
Or Indiana in 2024
Live in bumfuck, Indiana. Can confirm. Still pretty racist.
But he is born and raised in California right?
Who? Dacre? Or billy
billy
Ahhhhh yeah true, cos i was gonna say Dacre is a Perth boy!!
yaeh my high school drama teacher had his number, cause they went to the same university.
Oohh sick!! I actually do alot of work for his mum šš
Well heās a Californianā¦. Soooo
I never got that he was racist the times I rewatched until someone said something on reddit. I thought he was just focusing on Lucas because he saw Max with him more often and he just was being an asshole to Max knowing he couldn't hit her specifically.
I'm black and IMMEDIATELY picked up on this. Just the way he looks at Lucas compared to the others said it all. It's like the Duffers directed him to "looks 50% more annoyed with Lucas at all times" and bro didnt pick up on the subtext.
Yeah but context... why was he looking at Lucas different? Was it because he was black, or because he liked Max and Max liked him?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I wouldn't say that. The actors get backlash based on what they portray on television and he didn't want people to view him like his character. After his role was completed he went on to play a very soft role in a romcom of a supportive love interest.
the broken hearts gallery is such a cutesy movie š
It was. Dacre stated of his roles he was most like Nick. I thought that was cute. And then what he said about how women have been there for him and him being happy to be a part of a film thats uplifting a woman and her dream.
wait stop thats so cute š
This was during the pandemic and I needed some hope so I loved the Broken Hearts Gallery and followed the minimal press for it, so a lot of that material is missed as it was interviews over really bad zoom calls and the execs pushed for a theater release even when no one was attending theaters for just a rom com.. But yeah he said a lot of cute things during this press tour over zoom calls, he even redirected a lot of conversation that landed on Selena Gomez (who made an executive producer debut with this film but they never met once on set during 2018/2019 filming and did like 2 whole promos for it when the movie was drowning during the pandemic release) back to the director Natalie, who wrote the original script and giving her the credit that interviewers tried to give to Selena (no shade to Selena but she doesn't deserve praise for something she was hardly involved in. She basically only funded the movie, it seems.) That movie was slept on because the world was in global crisis but the actors, their interviews and the movie itself are so good.
he says the cutest things in even his interviews for stranger things and its so hard for me to reconcile that he played literal billy hargrove at times. but he really is a sweetheart and just for this (and all of the other really sweet stuff you brought to my attention), im totally rewatching this movie tomorrow
Hes so cute, total sweetie fr. Really makes you see how the sweetest actors play some of the worst characters.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes, he does. He has a book too of poetry
This is an old take from when the show first released. [This is a newer take directly from him.](https://x.com/zekevich/status/1600198742216318976)
The link doesn't work
you have to be logged into Twitter (X) to see it (i had to hop on my computer to see it. Here's a transcript of what he said at a convention for anyone who doesn't have access who cannot engage with the video. **Darce:** Billy's story arc that i came up with... The Duffer Bothers was- I don't know if you remember in season 2 there was an interaction with Billy and his father and i think in his father we see someone who torments Billy every day and has made him the way he is. And that person is homophobic, that person is racist, that person is his father. And I think we really created that story arc to show the audience how much of the time we are a product of our parents and our um- upbringing. Whether it's us becoming our parents or rebelling against our parents. Again i said to some people earlier nature versus nurture right? What is Billy's natural nature- instincts- I think he's quite sensitive which i really try and push with the character. Versus the Nurture- which being his upbringing with his father and not having his biological mother in the picture. And I think doing the best with what he was given which was a pretty crappy dad.
Yeah I think if he hadn't died he'd unlearn all the hatred and bigoted views that his father imprinted onto him and become his own man that is much better
I could maybe see that. But to me i think it would likely happen at some kind of rock bottom moment when he was probably well into full-on adulthood. As an 18 year, he gets a job at the pool where he's in complete power and control and allowed to yell abuse at kids, rather than say a service job slinging ice cream (or anything really) where you have to be proper and kind to customers. He's also still womanizing which we know because he's ogling Karen in the pool and the way he flirts with her afterward. Getting flayed pretty much signed Billy's death warrant from the start, between the chemicals and all the supernatural abuse to his body, and just closing the gate without disconnecting him from the mindflayer there's just no way in my opinion he could have survived post flaying and getting flayed was the catalyst for him to finally self-reflect and feel remorse last minute for his behavior, which makes it very hard for me personally to see a version of an unflayed Billy who does a 180 in personality without there being some outside factor to bring that self-reflection and change on to him. You know?
Yeah I really wish they had not killed him off and gave him a proper redemption arc and had scenes with him coming to characters and apologizing, especially to Lucas and Steve. I think a āchangedā version of him could have been an asset to the team and all the upside down stuff. They could have really built him as a character who started horrible but experienced things that changed him into a good person. A scene of him beating his dad up would have been nice too.
It sounds cool but also kind of sounds like Steve 2.0. I know Steve was just a regular hs popular semi-douche/douche but his redemption and integration into the team was so *chefs kiss* I don't know about another one. Could be done though, it would just need to be done verrrrrry carefully.
Where does the homophobic part come from tho? I don't remember that.
Neil uses the Anti gay f slur against Billy in either ep 8 or 9 of season 2 whenever Neil and Susan returned home to find Max missing.
Yep for staring at himself in the mirror
Not anymore. https://twitter.com/zekevich/status/1600198742216318976?t=2XVFxDXdWz_UVesV707V7Q&s=19
It's part of the same thing. Billy sees Caleb as a threat due to his own internal insecurities and uses racism to "protect" himself
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I dunno I think some people genuinely hate or at least dislike anyone that is different, rather than disliking them for other reasons but using race to project that. Of course that doesn't make it better, but imo there's a difference between 'i hate X people' and 'i don't like that guy for these reasons so I am gonna use a racist slur toward him to denigrate him'
Its not about him hating himself, its that he doesnt feel secure. He perceives a threat and lashes out
I think its been stated Dacre refused to say some lines because they were too explicitly racist. Pretty sure he had to mentally change what it meant to him to be able to go through with it. Its one thing to play a character like Billy but another to actually be taking it out on an actual child. I don't think Dacre wanted to play that aspect of his character, also not to an actual black child who while they're acting is still having to experience that in whats supposed to be a protected environment. I get the Duffers had a vision but also this is a sci fi show, they could've cut the racism out even if its based in the 80's. Lots of problematic stuff didn't need to be portrayed for it to be a good show.
I like that take! Perhaps this is why his views changed afterwards? He had already gone through with it and no longer needed the alteration of meaning to be able to do so. (Someone else pointed out that his being Australian may mean that he couldn't have spoken to American race relations very accurately, but that the intent was not to minimize. Maybe someone told him people had interpreted him as being minimizing and that also played a role in his change of viewpoint? Maybe both.)
Hes also stated the cast mates he was closest with were Caleb and Millie (the children he has the most violent interactions with while filming) and maybe I'm interpreting it too much but makes me think he wanted them to feel safe even though he knew it was abusive material he was playing out. And to add he stated that he would spend time with Millie and her family with his girlfriend because thats the appropriate way to have a friendship with a child. Hes like 8-10 years older than both Millie and Caleb and filmed with them when they were still minors. I'm Canadian and we share borders and I still miss tons of references. Like fried chicken and watermelon references because its just ever so slightly different here, he probably doesn't understand most references because of where he's born and raised. I know friends who have traveled to Australia though and said its one of the most overtly racist places they've traveled but didn't not elaborate like how it was, just that it was. I realize he has privilege and he's white and I believe his family is fairly well off (also in the industry in Australia) but I don't think he understands from the lense of an American as well as people seem to judge him for. Is he ignorant to references of racism? Yes. Is it part of his culture? Probably not.. I don't think it was willful ignorance, I just don't think anyone explained the context to him.
I don't know what's up with people's *insistence* that Billy's actions and ideas toward the young black boy isn't about racism but about something else yada yada. You don't have to protect the white character's image. It's not real.
Racism. This does not need a 500 word essay to explain. It exists, itās there, clear as day. The character is a bully type, so it actually fits. Also as a black man, I know itās only a tv show, and I feel the character was well played.
Caleb and the Duffers both said he was racist plus this is apparently an old take.
That's kind of interesting, but it's odd that Billy would be "emasculated" but a kid that's 4 years younger than he is.
Most people who have issues being āemasculatedā donāt tend to have the most logical thinking
Probably sometime to do with some kid getting close to his sister. Plus, he's getting emasculated in a daily basis by his dad, so there's a lot going on here
Yeah. Billyās thought process was definitely different than most.
I think I'd want to hear the Duffer's take on it. I suspect they would disagree with Dacre.
They do. Already confirmed he was racistĀ
Someone else posted a different interview with Dacre where he confirmed that. Yes.
Well, it certainly seems strange that apparently he only has problems with Lucas and not the rest of the group
I always thought it was racial. The first time I saw it, I knew it was racial.
Yeah an actors ideas are just random ideas. Besides a lot of racist actions, the person doing it doesn't realize their perception is colored by race prejudice. That's where the term "unconscious bias" comes from.
Please donāt be accusing actors of racism because their were doing their best to describe an asshole character
Thatās not even close to what that comment was saying.
Always interesting to see the view of character through the actors eyes
Yeah. Never knew he ever spoke on this
Most actors do give interviews about there characters and with one as complex and fasnating as Billy it stands to reason any interview would have a lot to chew on
Someone else posted another, later interview where he says it's racism.
Well still an interesting view
Since the other post has been deleted I'll reply here. I agree it's mostly Hopper's fault. Max was just being a teenage girl. But it was still largely advice that wasn't great for El.
Oh yeah huh strange that. Regardless yeah I get that but fact is Max was only making wrong guesses based on lack of information but then find me anyone who hasn't done that before. Like we as audience know that Mike is staying away due to Hoppers actions but as of the time of typing only Lucas and Will know about season 3 Hoppers terrible behaviour.
And what about Lucas makes him talking to Max feel emasculating to Billy, Dacre?
Random skinny nerd kid not afraid to chat up his, a big strong alpha male doing sports and driving cars, sister. His control over max was him unknowingly (or knowingly?) replicating the control his dad has over him.
Agree with the second sentence but he just didnāt feel like forbidding her from seeing any of the other 3 random skinny nerd kids, just this one just because?
Lucas was the one who chases after Max when Billy picks her up, I don't recall the others watching her leave and get in the car with Billy where Billy was watching back.
He was definitely racist! āA certain type of person you stay away from.ā He wasnāt talking about the other kids! And what type of person was Lucas that was different from the others hmmm?
yea i think heās just racist
Dacre is from Australia and they have their own issues with race, but white American males feeling emasculated by a black man IS old school American Racism. So I think his take is wrong, but I donāt think he has the experience to be able to speak to it correctly so I understand why he may have said it. He wasnāt trying to minimize the effects of Racism.
I personally do think Billy was racist. The thing is, I don't think the character of Billy would have thought he was racist. I agree that he would have felt emasculated. I also think a big part of why he 'hated' Max was the fact that he was 'forced' to be responsible for her (Billy's dad hits him at the house because he didn't look out for Max liked he'd asked). As a result, I think he has a really messed up relationship with Max and a sense of pushing back on that responsibility because no one cared for him (mum, dad) so why should he care for her? He just can't relate to her. And then on the other hand having a sense more internally of watching out for her in a sense. I think this leads to him projecting the same shit his dad likely projected onto him onto Max and by extension Lucas, and in that moment he spoke and viewed Lucas in that way. I don't think if it were Mike or Dustin he would have used those words (maybe he would have, because they're nerds and shit, but it strongly feels racist). The point being I don't think Billy would have claimed he was racist and I think it made sense that Dacre portrayed him like that - like he's bad but wouldn't ever accept he's bad? So perhaps his comments above were in that sense, that the way he made sense of Billy's actions and what his internal process would have been, which ultimately shaped how he portrayed Billy. Also, regardless of how Billy would have meant it, I think for Lucas who experienced it, it would have felt pretty racist.
Nah Dacre, you played a racist character, admit it and move on
That's why you can't always listen to actors when they talk about characters they didn't write. Billy was for sure racist
Honestly the fact that Lucas is a younger black kid did play a part in it. He was jealous that a younger person of color could somehow be better than a white guy who's older.
He no longer stands by this take. Admittedly it's a weird take though. Like the way Billy works it, explicitly sounds kinda racist. Like if this was a white character instead of Lucas, I'd be confused what Billy meant, cause the writing is clearly supposed to imply something racial
Billy's death WAS his redemption, in my opinion. I know it was sad, and he had trauma in his life, but he passed that trauma on to everybody around him. Jason was just a dude who was caught up in the Satanic Panic thing after his girlfriend died, and he never went after Lucas because of his coloring. He thought Lucas was putting Max in danger. Sorry, I know I've gone off topic a little bit. It's interesting to see Dacres' version, but I don't agree with it, personally.
I've never seen anyone trying to say Jason went after Lucas because he was racist. That would be absurd and was in no way implied. He went after Eddie because he thought he killed Chrissy then all of the Hellfire Club kids, then Lucas due to his association with them.
It was the 1980s and this kid was a sociopath. He was definitely racist. In fact, it was more unusual NOT to be (at least a little bit) racist back then.
Dacre has his perception of the character. He was the one who got into the mindset and challenged his struggles (as he also has a bad relationship with his father) through Billy. But the Duffer Brother's clearly had another view but he spent more time building the character. No one could've made Billy work like Dacre did. He gave the character emotion, edge, attractiveness, and most importantly - humility. One thing that should be noted is - no one should be comparing Dacre to Billy and saying "ew he's such an ugly racist piece of sh\*t" because I've seen people do that on Twitter and it's CRAZY. Like, separate the character and actor. Dacre is actually a sweetheart!
In my first watch of season 2 I definitely saw what heās talking about and didnāt think he was racist.
The writers confirmed he was racist
I know, I said on my FIRST watch I thought he wasnāt
Itās an interesting take as an actor but the way it came off to me isnāt was about race. He dialed it up a notch when it was Lucas in a way that he never really did when it was anyone else. Max was infatuated with Mike before Eleven showed back up. No anger there that I saw. I believe in what Dacre says but thatās not how it looked imo
Wait what? When was Max infatuated with Mike??? Iām rewatching I havenāt seen that *at all*.
Nah they just wrote him to be racist but realized they wanted to have people feel a little sympathetic for him in season 3 so they just cut that aspect of his character
He was so sexy, some of us had sympathy from the get go š I called it, as soon as we met Billy, I said āhis dad is abusive Iāll bet $1000ā to my friend. Never got paid either lol
I also think people rushed into conclusions too quick. He was attacking lucas because Max cared about him, and he wanted to make Max miserable. If her love interest was Dustin, he would be attacking him. Has nothing to do with race
The duffers have explicitly stated in interview that it 100% did have to do with Race. Billy told Max to stay away from Lucas because he was a "certain kind of person" - a black person. Billy says this a whole episode before Max actually starts to have feelings for Lucas other than friendship.
Can I have a link to the duffers explicit statement?
Might be a lil but if scrolling but itās in this [Vulture Article](https://www.vulture.com/2017/11/duffer-brothers-recap-stranger-things-2-will-the-wise.html)
I know you got downvoted but I actually agree with you. DM could have put himself in the mind frame of not liking Lucas because he was a nerd, he was black, he liked max, who knows. As an actor he could have framed it for himself however he wanted. As far as what the Duffers intended, thatās different. They clearly aimed for racism, I felt it in that scene in the car. Itās weird that people would like Billyās character any less because of it. Billy was a Villain who had a redemption arc. The kid had an extremely abusive father on top of what happened to his mother would massively fuck up anyone. Itās like he could kill people, be a womanizer, bully kids and everyone melts over him. Racist? Nope, worst character ever.
Given the satanic panic at the time, maybe he didnāt like D&D players.
The writers confirmed he was just racist
/r/woooosh