The actor opens up about fan backlash against his character Jeremiah, Amazon’s anti-bullying PSA, and why he’s not taking the hate personally.
The Summer I Turned Pretty may be a hit for Prime Video, but not every character is getting love from fans — and Gavin Casalegno knows it.
The 25-year-old actor, who plays Jeremiah Fisher in the YA series based on Jenny Han’s bestselling books, admitted in a new interview with The New York Times that his character has become the internet’s punching bag.
“They tend to dislike him, yes,” Casalegno said of Jeremiah, who often finds himself overshadowed by his brother Conrad (Christopher Briney). “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.”
Still, the backlash has gone beyond playful memes. Before Season 3 premiered, Amazon even posted a PSA reminding fans to keep the conversation “kind” and to avoid bullying the cast. But as Casalegno admitted, that effort is “not really going so well.”
The actor also revealed that some people have told him straight to his face that they “hate Jeremiah,” something he said he finds “pretty comical.”
For viewers following along, Jeremiah has had a rough stretch in Season 3. The storyline centers on his engagement to Belly (Lola Tung), who has been torn between Jeremiah and Conrad since childhood. In last week’s episode, Belly discovered Jeremiah had cheated on her, leading to a dramatic fight.
Things got even messier when Conrad confessed his love and begged Belly not to go through with the wedding. In tears, Belly rejected him and found comfort with her best friend Taylor (Rain Spencer) instead.
With just a few episodes left before the series finale drops on September 17, fans are bracing for more heartbreak — and likely more divided opinions about who Belly should end up with.
Casalegno, for his part, is taking it all in stride. After all, as he put it: “It’s just a story.”
