Stranger Things’ Shannon Purser comes out as bisexual and addresses queerbaiting accusations

Stranger Things‘ actress Shannon Purser has opened up about her sexuality in a recent Twitter post.

The Netflix star, who plays Barb in the popular series Stranger Things, took to social media yesterday to share her thoughts with her followers.

She wrote: “I don’t normally do this, but I figure now is as good a time as any to get personal. I’ve only just recently come out as bisexual to my family and friends.

“It’s something I am still processing and trying to understand and I don’t like talking about it too much. I’m very, very new to the LGBT community.”

Shannon’s post came as a response after she was criticised for writing a tweet about viewers of her U.S. TV show Riverdale who “ship” (support a romantic relationship between) two of the female characters Betty and Veronica.

Followers accused Shannon of “queerbaiting” in her post, which is described on Urban Dictionary as “a public figure bringing up the completely irrelevant detail about a person’s sexuality, true or untrue, as a way of subtly channelling homophobia to attack them.”

Shannon continued: “I have never ever wanted to alienate anyone. It wasn’t a wise or kind thing to say and I’m disappointed in myself, especially as a Christian who has always been taught to speak love to others.

“Thank you to all the people who kindly reached out to me and educated me about the reality (of) your feelings about queerbaiting and I apologise to those who were hurt.”

Shannon’s honesty and sincere apology was met with a wave of support online:

Stranger Things 2 will land October 31 on Netflix.