Bullying Is Not the Stranger Thing. Pretending It Does Not Exist Is.

By Andrew Regal, author of Surviving Bully Culture

When the final season of Stranger Things dropped, the internet lit up. Fans dissected every plot twist, revisited the 1980s aesthetic, and mourned the end of a cultural phenomenon. But this year, the conversation went beyond the Upside Down.

Headlines began circulating about alleged bullying and harassment behind the scenes. Reports claimed that Millie Bobby Brown filed complaints about on set behavior involving a co-star. The story exploded across social media, dominated entertainment news, and generated thousands of reactions.

On set bullying became breaking celebrity news. It became content. It became a spectacle.

But here is the real stranger thing. Workplace bullying itself is not strange at all. Pretending it is rare or limited to Hollywood is.

I spent nearly thirty years in television. I worked in live production, newsrooms, executive offices, and high-pressure environments where ratings mattered more than people. And in twenty-seven of those thirty years, I experienced or witnessed bullying.

Not occasionally. Systemically.

Hollywood has bullies. Broadway has bullies. Corporate America has bullies.

Nonprofits have bullies. Tech, healthcare, finance, education, retail, law, media, and government all have bullies.

Where there are people at work, there are bullies at work.

Workplace bullying is a national crisis hiding in plain sight. Yet we only seem to care when it happens in the entertainment world.

When bullying makes headlines about celebrities, we lean in. When it happens in ordinary workplaces, we whisper about it to our spouses or our therapists. We second-guess our abilities. We blame ourselves. We convince ourselves that the problem resides in us.

That silence is the most dangerous part.

The Real Problem Is Not the Scandal. It Is The Closed Office Doors

The moment allegations surface online, the conversation turns to actors, producers, fandom, and drama. What we rarely discuss is what actually matters.

Toxic workplace culture Power imbalances Lack of psychological safety Leadership failures Bystander silence Trauma that workers carry for years HR systems that protect power instead of people.

These are not fictional storylines. I lived with them. In my book Surviving Bully Culture, I describe working for leaders who humiliated me, isolated me, and disregarded me. These bully bosses used fear as a management tool. I watched brilliant producers and journalists lose confidence, lose sleep, and lose their sense of worth. Not because they lacked talent, loyalty, or productivity, but because they worked in cultures that accepted cruelty.

The only strange thing is how ordinary we have allowed this to become. This type of mismanagement harms employees and damages businesses. And it is not unique to the television industry. One of my favorite quotes is: “Where you find people at work you find bullies at work.”

One of the most iconic lines from Stranger Things is when Eleven says, Friends do not lie. In bullying cultures, lying becomes a survival strategy.

Bullies lie about their behavior. Bystanders lie to protect themselves. HR lies to protect leadership. Targets lie to themselves just to get through the day.

A healthy workplace is one where truth is safe, and honesty is not punished. It’s where integrity is valued.

When I interviewed leadership expert and researcher Fred Kiel for my book, he shared findings that confirmed what I had experienced. Teams with high psychological safety outperform teams driven by fear. Microsoft’s internal culture review found the same thing. The most productive workplaces are not the loudest or toughest. They are the safest. Psychological safety is not soft. It is strategic.

What the Upside Down Looks Like at Work

Imagine if the strange thing in workplaces were this.

Employees who feel safe speaking about incivility and bullying. Leaders trained to intervene early. HR empowered to protect people rather than power. Teams where empathy is a valued skill, not a weakness. Organizations that help people heal after workplace trauma.

In many companies today, that would feel strange. Unreal. Almost unbelievable.

And yet it is precisely what is possible. It is what healthy workplaces should strive for. It is what every employee deserves. It is what every organization can build.

Not with slogans. Not with posters. Not with a one-time seminar.

But with commitment, training, accountability, and leadership that listens instead of dismisses.

What Entertainment Scandals Reveal About Power and Silence

Even though Stranger Things is fiction, it reflects something very real about workplace behavior.

Power corrupts when it goes unchecked. Silence protects those who misuse that power. People fear retaliation more than mistreatment. One voice of courage can change everything.

Whether allegations on a film set prove true or not, the public response tells us something important. People recognize the patterns because they have lived them. They know bullying is not confined to studios or stages. They know it happens in factories, offices, hospitals, classrooms, courtrooms and boardrooms.

Bullying thrives in isolation. The moment stories go public, people feel less alone. Silence begins to erode.

The Questions We Should Be Asking

If millions rush to read about bullying on a film set, why are workers afraid to report bullying in ordinary jobs?

Why do companies label abuse as personality conflict instead of cultural risk? Why do leaders tolerate “brilliant jerks” who deliver results but destroy people? Why is employee wellbeing still treated as optional when burnout and turnover cost billions? Why is bullying normal, and psychological safety considered strange?

These are not abstract questions. They are leadership questions.

The Real Work Begins Now

The final season of Stranger Things is ending, but the real work of creating healthy workplaces is just beginning.

In my career, I survived bully culture. In writing my book, I realized survival should never be the goal. Healing and change should be.

The next evolution in organizational culture requires teaching leaders how to build psychological safety, training employees to recognize unacceptable behavior early, equipping HR to investigate bullying with autonomy and neutrality, holding bully bosses accountable, and helping employees recover from workplace trauma.

This is the path to employee health and well-being and optimal organizational productivity.

Workplace bullying is not entertainment. It is not rare. It is not inevitable. It is preventable. It is measurable. It is solvable.

And it starts with telling the truth in every industry, in every workplace, at every level of power.

If we want healthier and more productive organizations, the real stranger thing we must create is simple.

A culture where people matter more than power. One story.

One employee. One workplace at a time.

About Andy Regal

Andy Regal is a media executive and the author of Surviving Bully Culture: A Career Spent Navigating Workplace Bullying and a Guide for Healing.

Regal worked his way up to Executive Producer, Executive Vice President of Programming, and VP of Original Programming at major media organizations such as Court TV, CNBC, and MSNBC. He served as Global Head of Video at The Wall Street Journal, overseeing journalists in New York, Washington, San Francisco, London, and Hong Kong.

He garnered honors, including the Loeb Award for Excellence in Business Journalism, the Associated Press Media Editors Award, "Innovator of The Year," and Emmy nominations for Obamacare "Prescribed" and "Consumer 101" on NBC.