Caleb McLaughlin slammed by Stranger Things fans for 'sick' sex joke about Max and Lucas during SNL debut

The Netflix cast has been causing controversy with Caleb McLaughlin catching heat for his innuendo on the SNL Stranger Things skit.

SNL fans were left with a bad taste in their mouths after McLaughlin, who played Lucas Sinclair on the hit show Stranger Things, told a NSFW joke about his character during a Saturday Night Live scene.

This comes off the back of Finn Wolfhard hosting the show, leading to some social media commenters to brand the adult joke as ‘disgusting’.

In it, Wolfhard, who played Mike Wheeler for 10 years, shared his recent status of being a ‘man’, revealing that he can now drink alcohol if he so wishes, and dabble in other adult activities.

But it was when he made an explicit joke about a vagina, that people were shocked.

The 23-year-old said: "My voice changed on camera, my first kiss was on camera, and I can't actually believe I'm admitting this, but the first time I learned what a woman looks like down there - was on camera as well."

The scene then cut to a Demogorgon opening its flower.

But this wasn’t the only controversial skit Wolfhard was present for.

Alongside the actor, taking part in the SNL skit for Stranger Things, were McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson).

However, this one led to McLaughlin catching the most heat.

the max joke is genuinely making me sick to my stomach bro what the hell😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

— hris 𖦹 JONMIKE CEO (@cleradinsm) January 18, 2026

“And just like that, I was in a new Upside Down, New York, and it doesn’t take a hive mind to know that after you’ve dated an Eleven, even 10s fall short,” Wolfhard said, while sitting in a restaurant, writing his thoughts parodying Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City.

McLaughlin and Matarazzo then appear with Cosmopolitan cocktails in hand, before taking a seat and talking about their character’s sex lives.

“Well, Max and I started off hot and heavy, right?” McLaughlin said. “Then, a couple of years in, she just lies there like she’s back in that coma.”

This is a reference to the fact that Sadie Sink’s Max Mayfield ended up in a coma for almost the entirety of the last season after Vecna captured her at the end of Season 4.

To this, people blasted him for the joke, calling it ‘disgusting’.

“What kind of game was going on on SNL? These jokes were so flat and disgusting,” one person wrote on X.

“They made a joke about Lucas having sex with unconscious Max on SNL,” said another. “What has this show come to?”

A third wrote: “That Max coma joke. SNL, you’re weird for that one!”

However, others didn't see the issue, and believe it has all been blown out of proportion.

One person stated: "This generation gets upset over everything."

Another wrote: "That s*** was funny."

Someone else called out the hate, writing: "It’s a comedy show. Come on."

UNILAD reached out to the representatives of Caleb McLaughlin, and previously did so with Finn Wolfhard's team.