On Thursday, Schnapp posted an eight-second video to his TikTok account with the note: “When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was, ‘We know.'”
Schnapp, in a gray blazer lying on a pillow, smiles at the camera and lip syncs: “You know what he’s never been like? This is serious. He’s never been this serious. Quite frankly, it’s never going to be that serious.”
In an apparent reference to his character, the video captioned “I think I look more like Will than I thought.” In the The fourth season of the showwhich was released in 2022, there was fan speculation about Byers’ sexual orientation.
Schnapp had previously been ambiguous in interviews about his character’s sexuality, but confirmed the speculation this year.
“Now it’s 100 percent clear that he’s gay,” Schnapp said Variety said Byers.
“But before, it was a slow arc. I think it was done beautifully, because it’s so easy to make a character like all of a sudden become gay.”
Set in a fictional town in 1980s Indiana, the series revolves around Eleven, a teen with telekinetic powers who battles supernatural mysteries and deals with teen drama alongside a group of young friends. The upcoming fifth season of the show will be its last.
Schnapp’s TikTok video has more than 5.7 million likes and 257,000 comments as of late Thursday. NSYNC pop star Lance Bass, who is openly gay, was among the commenters, writing: “Welcome to the fam! Your welcome basket is in the mail.”
The actor won the People’s Choice Award this year. His credits also include the Oscar-nominated film ‘Spies Bridge. “
