Everything to know about Millie Bobby Brown's bad review controversy
The Stranger Things actor is facing backlash once again
Watch: 'I’m a Karen': Millie Bobby Brown admits to using a fake name to leave bad reviews
Millie Bobby Brown is at the centre of a controversy after revealing that she complains about staff under a fake name when she gets bad service.
The actor – who rose to fame as Eleven in Netflix juggernaut Stranger Things – made the comments on the Table Manners podcast, which is hosted by Jessie Ware and her mum Lennie. It triggered debate online, with some people calling the star “entitled” but others saying she was allowed to have an opinion.
So what exactly did Brown say? And what have people said about it?
Millie Bobby Brown said she leaves negative reviews
When talk on the podcast turned to leaving reviews, Brown said she did leave them sometimes, explaining: “I have a fake name. Because I think it’s important, you know. Here’s the thing, my whole life is people criticising me. So I’m gonna give it back to you sometimes.”
She detailed two incidents, one where she and her fiancé Jake Bongiovi were staying at a hotel and a member of staff asked them to settle their bill.
“I was just like, ‘Yeah, we will, but at the end of our stay – like, we’re still staying here’,” she said. “And she was like, ‘Well you could settle it now’ and I was like, ‘But I don’t want to’.”
The actor went on to leave a review, saying: “It was just like, ‘I really think that you should encourage guests to complete transaction of payment at the end of their stay’.”
She also shared another time where an elderly lady mistook her for a shop worker and asked for her help finding some socks. Brown said she would help, so approached a member of staff.
“I said, ‘Excuse me, I need this pattern, but I need it in this size, can you help me?’" she said. "She was so unhelpful. And I was just like, ‘Please, this isn’t even for me!’ So, I left a review.”
Ware asked if Brown was a “Karen”, which is often used to refer to white middle class women who use their privilege to get their own way. “OK, I’m a Karen,” the Enola Holmes star said. “Listen, I do think it’s important to know where you went wrong, and always room for improvement.”
Brown also complained about waiting too long to order in restaurants, saying: “I've already looked at the menu in the car on the way here and when they’re like, 'We’ll just get your drinks orders and then come back', I’m like 'No, no, no, stand here, let’s just take the whole thing’.”
Fans divided over Stranger Things star’s comments
Brown’s words sparked a debate on social media, which some fans accusing her of being “entitled”. One posted on Instagram: “Privileged!” “The entitlement and privilege is screaming,” said someone else on X.
Another said: “Nothing p***** me off more than entitled people who think they need to improve the service that’s given to them by minimum wage workers.”
“This is so sad bc people who work in customer service need good ratings to get a good bonus due to the salary is really bad,” said another person. “People in customer service don’t get paid enough for what they really have to do and DEAL with rude and unprofessional people calling/chatting.”
Another said: “I’m repulsed. The examples she gave are so trivial and you’re gonna get someone in trouble at their job, threaten their livelihood, because they were a little annoying? Maybe they’re going through something, calm down.”
However, other people said the star was allowed to give her opinion like anyone else. Some also said using a fake name was “considerate” of her.
“Nah she’s not a Karen,” one said. “From the stories she’s telling, she didn’t argue or disrupt anything. She just left negative reviews for poor experiences she had.”
“She’s smart to do this under a fake name,” said another. “A review from THE Millie Bobby Brown will ruin a business but a rando will probably help improve service.”
“This is not ‘Karen’ behaviour,” posted another fan. “This is checks and balances of a decent society.”
Millie Bobby Brown has sparked controversy before
It isn’t the first time that Brown, who is still just 20, has found herself at the centre of a debate in recent years.
Last year she was slated when it was revealed that she worked with a ghostwriter on her book Nineteen Steps, despite the fact that many celebs do the same, plus she credited the writer for their work.
She was also criticsed over her accent, because some fans thought it had changed in her new film Damsel and that she was sounding more American.
Brown, who is British but grew up in the US, later apologised if she had offended anyone, saying on TikTok: “I can't help that when I'm around my fiancé, or when I'm around people like Jimmy Fallon, who have a very American accent, I wanna replicate it! And now I'm in England I want to replicate that. I don't do it intentionally and I'm sorry if it offends you! But listen, I'm trying my best!”
She previously told Glamour that she was even criticised at 13 after being cast as Eleven, with complaints about her talking over co-stars in interviews. “We’re kids - we talk over each other,” Brown said.
The actor was also accused of trying to steal her castmates’ thunder and admitted it was “hard to hear that at 13”. She explained: “You’re like, ‘I don't want to ever talk again. I don’t want to be the loud person.'
Brown said she learned to “stay silent and speak when I was spoken to, even though I was dying to join in”. “I just felt it wasn’t my turn,” she said.
