The Duffer brothers have issued an apology in response to the Stranger Things verbal abuse accusations from a female crew member.
Matt and Ross Duffer, the writers, directors and producers behind Stranger Things, were accused last week by Peyton Brown of seeking out women and verbally abusing them on set of the Netflix show.
In an Instagram post on International Women’s Day, Brown said, ‘I personally witnessed two men in high positions of power on that set seek out and verbally abuse multiple women. I promised myself that if I were ever in a situation to say something that I would. I have 11.5 thousand followers who can hear me say this, TIME IS UP. Women in the film industry are POWERFUL.’
Although Brown never explicitly identified the Duffer Brothers in the original post, screenshots are circling of her having done so in now-deleted comments and a comment on the original post reportedly read, 'There was yelling, there were insults, there were threats and people were even fired or forced to quit because of them.'
This weekend, in a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter, the brothers apologised for their behaviour, stating that, ‘Due to the high-stress nature of production, tempers occasionally get frayed, and for that, we apologize.’
The Duffers went on to add: 'However, we think it is important not to mischaracterize our set, where we believe strongly in treating everyone fairly regardless of gender, orientation, race, religion, or anything else. We remain totally committed to providing a safe and collaborative working environment for everyone on our productions.'
Netflix also added their own response to the situation, ‘We looked into the concern that was raised when we heard of the allegation on Thursday, and found no wrongdoing. Maintaining a safe, respectful atmosphere on set is important to us, and we know it is to the Duffer Brothers as well.’
2019 sees Stranger Things return to Netflix for Season 3.
Words by Victoria Fell