Lola Tung Responds To Criticism Of Belly In TSITP Season 3

The third and final season of The Summer I Turned Pretty is almost over — and its fan base is not OK. While Team Conrad and Team Jeremiah debate the ins and outs of every episode, one character has been subjected to a lot of criticism: Belly Conklin. Now, Lola Tung, who plays Belly in the show, is responding to the criticism surrounding hr character.

“I try not to be online too much because sometimes I can get really heated about stuff,” she told Nylon in an interview published Sept. 3. “She’s just misunderstood! She’s trying to figure it out. Let her live!”

Most of the criticism surrounds Belly’s love triangle. Throughout this season, she’s been caught between her feelings for two brothers, Jeremiah and Conrad Fisher. It’s a messy situation, and plenty of fans are blaming Belly for her role in it, calling her the “villain” of the series.

This response from audiences prompted showrunner and author Jenny Han to speak out after she noticed frustrated fans sharing a scene from Season 2 in which Belly’s mother Laurel slapped her during an argument. “I know fans of the show are passionate and no one has bad intent, but even in jest, posting images of a woman being slapped or choked is not funny,” Han wrote on her IG stories on Aug. 26, alongside the show’s community guidelines which prohibit hate speech and bullying.

The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Instagram also shared a post about the online vitriol, reminding audiences, “The show isn’t real but the people playing the characters are.”

Gavin Casalegno, who plays Jeremiah, has also spoken up about getting hate from the show’s fans. “They tend to dislike him, yes,” Casalegno told The New York Times when asked about the audience’s reaction to his character in August. “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.”

“I don’t think there’s a single human being in the world who can carry the emotional negativity to the degree that stuff like this happens,” he added. “Amazon did a good job of stepping in and being like, ‘Hey, no bullying.’ Though, not really going so well.”