“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,” the actor said.
The Summer I Turned Pretty star Gavin Casalegno is sharing his thoughts on being “one of the internet’s most hated boyfriends.”
In an interview with The New York Times, published on Thursday, the actor addressed the fan criticism and online hate toward his character, Jeremiah Fisher, whom he plays on the Amazon Prime Video series.
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“They tend to dislike him, yes. I don’t check Instagram anymore, so I really haven’t seen that much hate,” said Casalegno, 25. “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.”
For those who don’t watch the show, The Summer I Turned Pretty — which is an adaptation of Jenny Han’s book series of the same name — follows Isabella “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung), who finds herself in a love triangle with two brothers, Conrad (Christopher Briney), and Jeremiah (Gasalegno), with whom she grew up spending summer vacations in Cousins Beach. The series has created a ship war, with fans choosing Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah as their favorite love interest for Belly.
And it’s safe to say that passionate fans have sometimes taken their hatred for certain characters, most commonly Jeremiah, to concerning levels, to the point that Amazon Prime Video released a statement condemning bullying ahead of the Season 3 premiere last month.
“Cousins is our safe place. Everything good, everything magical. Let’s keep the conversation kind this summer,” the statement read, with the streamer also listing a series of “community guidelines.”
“We have a ZERO tolerance policy for bullying and hate speech. If you engage in any of the following, you will be banned,” the message adding, listing, “hate speech or bullying,” “targeting our cast or crew,” and “harassing or doxxing members of the community.”
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While speaking with The New York Times, Gasalegno applauded Prime Video for sharing its statement.
“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,” he said of the online hate. “I think that’s why Amazon did a good job of stepping in and being like, ‘Hey, no bullying.’ Though, not really going so well.”
The star also shared that fans have approached him in public, and said how much they despise his character. “It’s pretty comical,” Gasalegno said.
Despite Prime Video’s message, Jeremiah’s actions in Season 3 have arguably given haters of the character more fuel, most notably Jeremiah cheating on Belly during a questionable “break” in their relationship, before he apologizes and proposes to Belly, to which she accepts. In addition, fans aren’t happy with Jeremiah for not encouraging Belly to study abroad in Paris after she chooses to stay with him as he needs to repeat his senior year of college.
As for Conrad, he’s continued to struggle with holding in his love for Belly as she prepares to marry his brother. In last week’s episode, he learns of Jeremiah’s infidelity at his bachelor party, and proceeds to pour out his heart to Belly, begging her not to marry his brother.
While Season 3 has been dropping episodes for nearly two months now, Gasalegno revealed he hasn’t been tuning in — and hasn’t seen much of the series overall.
“I honestly haven’t even really watched any of the show,” he admitted. “Because, you know, when you’re in it, you know what’s happening. And so it’s, like, ‘Why?’ At the end of the day, it’s work — it’s an amazing job, a dream job — but it is still work.”
Gasalegno — who married Cheyanne King last year — went on to reiterate that he’s not his character, despite some similarities.
“We’re both very social and try to be the life of the party and please everybody — we’re very similar in that aspect,” he said. “But, obviously, as far as the immature side of things and the partying, I was never a partyer. I don’t even like going to work parties. It’s not who I am at all.”
New episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty drop Wednesdays on Prime Video.
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