Stranger Things defies the boycotters to become the biggest-ever Netflix season launch - The Jewish Chronicle

The newly released fifth and final season of Stranger Things has become Netflix’s most-watched English-language launch of all time despite an attempt to boycott the show by anti-Israel activists.

In its first five days of release, the global hit pulled in 59.6 million views, a 171 per cent increase over the debut of season four, confirming its place as a pop culture juggernaut.

The sci-fi show’s release proved so popular that, within minutes, Netflix experienced a brief worldwide outage, possibly due to the surge in traffic. Such issues – a similar problem happened ahead of the Mike Tyson v Jake Paul boxing bout – are rare.

The co-creator of the show, Ross Duffer, said on his Instagram that Netflix had increased its bandwidth by up to 30 per cent to avoid a crash on the night.

Season five’s release also boosted the show’s earlier seasons, with all previous seasons appearing in Netflix’s top 10 shows charts simultaneously – which was another first for the streaming platform.

Stranger Things mural is seen during the show's debut in Los Angeles, November 23, 2025 (Credit: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Netflix)Getty Images for Netflix

The record-breaking success came despite attempts by anti-Israel activists to boycott the show over the pro-Israel views of its leading stars.

Noah Schnapp, who has won acclaim for his portrayal of Will Byers, one of the central characters in the show, has publicly supported the Jewish state in its war against Hamas following October 7.

One month after the attacks, the 21-year-old Jewish actor appeared in a video with people handing out “Zionism is sexy” and “Hamas is Isis” stickers. The widely circulated clip led to activists demanding his removal from the cast and, when that did not happen, they organised a boycott of the show.

We dont care. Boycott Stranger Things, the show is infiltrated with raging racist islamophobic zionists. https://t.co/twmjGWIqss
— ari 𓂆 (@falastinarchive) August 9, 2024

Schnapp’s Stranger Things co-star Brett Gelman reiterated his own support for Zionism, which triggered further calls for a boycott.

Boycotts of the show were endorsed by several large anti-Israel accounts, including the “LandPalestine” and “Muslim” Instagram pages, which have 1.8 million followers and 6.7 million followers respectively.

The 'Muslim' Instagram page advocating for a viewing boycott of Stranger Things season 5[Missing Credit]

“Before you decide to watch this, remember that Noah Schnapp is a Zionist,” LandPalestine wrote.

“Simply do not watch the new season… Show Hollywood that there are repercussions to supporting & justifying genocide... Show them we have power. We hit McDonald’s and Starbucks really hard. Now it’s time for Hollywood.”

The accounts have not responded to the show’s latest record-breaking success.

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