Jeremiah Fischer Drama: Gavin Casalegno Responds to Summer I Turned Pretty Backlash
Riley Carter here, your go-to for low-effort high-drama updates. Let’s be real—sometimes the internet forgets it’s just fiction. But hey, that didn’t stop fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty from roasting Jeremiah Fischer, played by 25-year-old Gavin Casalegno, hard enough to make him rethink his social media habits.
So here’s the tea: Season three of Amazon Prime’s hit series is also its final one, and let’s just say not everyone’s rooting for Jeremiah. In fact, some viewers are straight-up *mad* about Belly (Lola Tung) agreeing to marry him after he cheated on her with Lacie Barone (Lily Donoghue). And while that might feel like a betrayal in the fictional beachside universe of Cousins, Gavin? He’s taking it all in stride.
In a recent interview with The New York Times published August 22, Casalegno admitted that the hate aimed at his character is “pretty comical.” He even joked that his sister keeps sending him memes mocking Jeremiah, which he finds more entertaining than offensive. “I don’t check Instagram anymore,” he shared, “so I haven’t really seen that much hate. The only thing that I see is my sister sending me the memes that are really funny.”
But despite the online vitriol, Gavin made it clear that he doesn’t take the backlash personally. “It’s important to understand this is a fictional story—and it’s also not me,” he said. While there may be some overlap between the actor and his character—he described both as “social”—he insists he’s far less immature than Jeremiah. “As far as the immature side of things and the partying, I was never a partier. It’s not who I am at all.”
Still, even with that emotional separation, absorbing so much negativity isn’t easy. “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 reflected. That said, he still calls the show a “dream job” and praised author Jenny Han’s storytelling for how it resonates with audiences. “This story is so wonderful in that it really makes people reminisce about love. It brings people back to their childhoods and summers and first loves—it’s super relatable.”
And speaking of relatability, the third season—which adapts the final book in the trilogy, *We’ll Always Have Summer*—has stirred up plenty of conversation around Belly’s identity shift. In the books, Isabel Conklin starts going by “Belly” once she gets to college, but in the show adaptation, it’s actually her brother Steven (Sean Kaufman) who scribbles over her door label. Her friend Anika (Sofia Bryant) then casually uses the nickname throughout the season. However, in the original text, Belly herself chooses to embrace the name change, making the TV version a slight departure from the source material.
The series also paid tribute to Han’s other beloved franchise, *To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before*, with subtle Easter eggs. One standout moment was a photo of Belly and Jeremiah dressed as Peter Kavinsky and Lara Jean Covey hanging on her dorm wall—a clever nod to another fan-favorite romance.
Meanwhile, Conrad Fisher (Chris Briney) got his own arc of self-discovery, including a deeper exploration of mental health and personal growth, adding layers to his character beyond the romantic tension that defined earlier seasons.
Bottom line? This season wasn’t just about wrapping up a romance—it was about navigating identity, maturity, and the messy aftermath of decisions we sometimes wish we could undo. And whether you’re Team Jeremiah or Team Conrad, one thing’s for sure: the finale left no emotional stone unturned.
Anyway, that’s the deal. Do with it what you will.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! News, The New York Times
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