#ns

[nymphus-fan-account]

This is me being parasocial about Noah Schnapp btw

- also I accepted and now love my bunny teeth and tons of moles all over my body 💆🏻‍♀️

- trying time management cause if Noah can successfully study in the economic major and at the same time memorize huge scripts and generally engage in acting as a job, then I also am able to successfully combine my studies with my interests/job 💪🏼

- trying new hobbies because Noah trying himself in designing encouraged me. Recently got into knitting (mostly because of Millie), next I'm going to be learning how to play guitar 🎸

- learning more about my Jewish roots and even went to synagogue and tried national food at a Kosher canteen (also dragged my friend with Jewish nationality with me) ✡️

- since I'm finally on a summer break now, next week I'm going to fix my diet and start going to the gym, all thanks to Noah's blogs!!🌹

[willfreakbyers]

One of my fav insta accounts who recently just followed me back posted an anti noah schnapp thing on there story ok buddy 😭😭

[hawkins-batman]

Let's Talk About Noah Schnapp

In light of everything that's happened in the last few days—namely Netflix releasing its first teaser for Stranger Things Season 5—many are returning to Stranger Things spaces online here and elsewhere for the first time in months. Maybe years. So, it's time to have this conversation again, because many people weren't here when some of us were having this conversation in the lull between content; and we're due for an update.

Buckle up—this is going to be long. I intend for this to be a mega post on the whole situation in so far as I can cover it, with receipts and screenshots.

The Conversation Around Noah

Put bluntly—the vitriol around Noah Schnapp has become dangerously insane. It's been that way for 2 years, but the renewed spotlight on Stranger Things, especially as Noah is set to take center stage in a Will Byers-centric season, has revived some of the worst elements of the conversation.

"What do you mean?", you may be asking. Well, I think it might just be better to show you:

This is just a sampling. If I showed you every tweet — every post — every video I've seen with this rhetoric, I'd need another medium to do it. A tumblr blog alone couldn't contain it all. But I take it you see my point now.

How Did Things Get This Way?

There are people on this app and on #that app who will say this behavior/treatment is warranted. They'll tell you that Noah is a "genocide supporter." That he "cheered for the deaths of Palestinian babies." That he "celebrated as people were being murdered." But none of this is true.

As a reminder, this was what Noah actually said—his very first comments on the matter—right after the Hamas attack that happened on October 7, 2023:

Important to note:

"...we will hope and pray for safety, justice, liberation, and self determination in Palestine."

and

"...we will say a Jewish prayer for peace for all Israelis and Palestinians."

That is the literal antithesis of support for a genocide or the wholesale slaughter of anyone.

The very next thing to happen was the infamous "sticker video" about which the most lies have been told, so let's debunk them one by one:

He did not make the stickers.

He did not wear the stickers.

He did not hand out the stickers.

He did not hold up the stickers.

He did not even touch the stickers.

He did not post the video on any social anywhere.

I've posted a pair of screenshots here that give you the gist in lieu of the video itself, but you can Google the video and watch the entire thing to see that I'm telling the truth.

What actually happened was that Noah was taken to a restaurant by a pair of influencers who were his guides while on a school-sponsored trip to Israel. Both were significantly older than him, were responsible for the video in question, were the only ones in it (aside from the waitress) to actually touch the stickers in question... and yet? Noah bore the brunt of the hate that ensued. When the backlash came, they abandoned him and left him to the wolves. (And perhaps because of that, he no longer associates with either one of them, nor follows any related social media accounts—all of which he was required to follow in the first place as terms of going on the trip through his school.)

Noah had just come out of the closet earlier that year and was 18 years-old. He would only turn 19 years-old in the ensuing weeks.

He has addressed these events several times. Most famous was the TikTok that he made explaining his actual position (that he doesn't want anyone, Palestinian or Israeli, to die). Less famous were remarks he made to fans on Snapchat:

I'll post his remarks here for those who can't read the text:

Hey guys! I appreciate you reaching out. To give you context, I did not post this language or sticker. I was at breakfast with friends, it happened to be an Israeli cafe, and a girl was handing out stickers. Someone photographed me and posted and tagged me. As you guys know better than most people, social media can be used however people want to use it. I understand the weight of the situation and take it very seriously. I have friends of friends who are currently being held hostage in Gaza right now. My friends kids were killed in the massacre at the Israeli music festival. Standing up against this terrorism is important to me and why I made my statement after the attack. As one of the only few Jewish people with a platform, I absolutely think it's important to share my message about hatred for Jews around the world right now. However, everyone online is obviously twisting everything and saying I support genocide and am Islamophobic which is obviously entirely false and never have I stated either of those things. Seeing what is happening to the innocent people in Palestine pains me so much and I wish it would stop. I fully support everyone in Palestine as I said in my post on Instagram. One of my best friends in college is Palestinian and we talk about this issue allllll the time and agree on most things. I think people on social media are just animalistic right now so it's hard to even chime in because they just rip me apart so now I'm staying out of it.

I'll let that stand on it's own. I think it provides the context behind his remarks, the situation with the video/stickers, and his actual views versus how social media portrays his views. It also explains why he hasn't said anything else in almost 2 years.

The key takeaway: He was speaking out against antisemitism and the attack on Jewish people on October 7 and he supports an end to what is happening in Gaza and fully supports Palestinians. He literally says it.

And this support, by the way, has been corroborated by his own actions and the word of mouth from Palestinian organizations he has contributed to:

What Has Happened Since?

It would be easier to list the things that haven't happened; but I'll try anyways:

Noah has been called antisemitic slurs; gay slurs and targeted with gay stereotypes; been compared to antisemitic caricatures; he's been threatened with death and had posts go viral fantasizing about his brutal murder; his family has been threatened; he's been threatened with rape and sexual abuse; there are massive accounts on Twitter that doxxed his location while he was filming Season 5—particularly targeting him when he was alone; he's been hacked, had personal pictures leaked; he's had lies spread about his treatment of his cast mates (all of whom have spoken out and said that they've loved him at some point since, making these claims unequivocally false.

Here are a few examples:

Again, I can only post a sample. I hope that sample is enough to get the message across.

It's hard to overstate how cataclysmic this has been. Obviously, he's recovered and healed a lot since the initial incident; but the damage done needs to be acknowledged. These attacks drove him into a dark place by his own admission. He talked about needing therapy on his (now deleted) private spam TikTok account. And they are starting up yet again.

And Then There's the Fandom

The Stranger Things fandom in the wake of all this has been an irritating place to be. Not just because of the above behavior but because of the blanket hypocrisy.

The shipping sub-fandoms in particular have been rank with antisemitism and homophobia—even the Byler fandom, which is predominantly queer. People have:

A) Taken pre-Stranger Things photos—like his baby pictures or pictures with his family—to use as part of their content, their profile pictures, their banners, their fan art, their fan edits, etc.—violating his and his family's privacy for "Will" all while calling him "ugly," a "fag," and lobbing the above-listed threats at him. B) Tried to recast him with a fan cast. These fan casts are almost never Jewish actors, you'll notice. In fact, there's someone on this very app that recast Will Byers as himself. This is gross and absurd. Will Byers is intrinsically tied to Noah Schnapp. Tied to his identities as a Jewish person and a gay man. Tied to his experiences being a character he helped bring to life during his formative years. C) Persist in stanning or support his cast mates despite the fact that they continue to associate with him. This, in particular, is gross hypocrisy. If you're going to be mad at Noah Schnapp for being in a restaurant around stickers you object to—guilt by proximity/association, in other words—those SAME standards should apply to his cast mates, who continue to hang out with him outside of work, state that they love him, and post him on their social medias. I have a whole post about that here.

Instead, the cast is continually afforded blanket immunity while he is singularly targeted for continued abuse and harassment.

It should give the fandom some pause that openly pro-Palestine actors like Maya Hawke not only continue to hang out with him; but in her Instagram story, even stated that she misses it (check the link above for a screenshot of said story). She wouldn't do that if she thought he somehow supported mass-murder; and she knows him way better than any one reading this blog. That goes for the rest of them, too.

They know him better than you. They know his moral compass and what he believes. And they haven't abandoned him and obviously aren't going to. So, are you going to stick to your guns and apply your anger evenly; or maybe consider that you don't have the full picture?

So, Why Care?

I get this in my Asks so often. "Why do you care?" "He's a celebrity." "He don't know you." "He's not your pookie."

I know. It's not about that.

Yes, full disclosure, I am obviously a fan of Noah's. Have been since the show started. And no it's not because I'm gay and he's gay or because he plays my favorite character in Stranger Things.

Like many of his fans, I've spent the last decade seeing his lives on Instagram and TikTok, seeing his fan interactions, watching his vlogs and videos, and I've come to respect him as a human being quite apart from Will Byers or his role as an actor. Fundamentally, I really believe he is a kind and caring human being. The word of mouth from everyone who knows or has met him bares this out—and, yes, he's even been kind to me in the few conversations we've had.

This is only one example from Instagram during The First Shadow premiere this year; but I think it encapsulates what I like about Noah most. He's kind. He goes out of his way to be kind. He does things he doesn't have to do, contractually or just in general, for the sake of being kind. He always has been.

He's also stood up for a plethora of causes. Black Lives Matters, trans rights, the rights of women. He's known to be his cast mates' biggest supporter—and they'll tell you as much, too.

But quite apart from my personal feelings about him and more importantly: this is wrong.

Antisemitism is wrong. Homophobia is wrong. Both kill. Still, to this day. As I am sitting in my kitchen writing this, the news just broke that an Indigenous gay man and a celebrity was shot dead in front of his husband—after having his home burned down and dogs burned alive—in the United States. Yesterday, news broke that a gathering of peaceful Jewish protesters (which included children and the elderly) demanding the release of hostages still held by Hamas was firebombed in Colorado. Luckily, they all survived, but six people were injured in that attack.

Violence and bigotry are ascendent everywhere right now. Minority communities are being targeted. Normalizing the behavior I've described and shown above kills marginalized people. Regardless of your feeling about Noah as a person or celebrity, normalizing the violent and bigoted remarks, tweets, and behavior towards him harms Jewish and LGBTQIA+ people—all of us.

And just as an example of that, I give you the treatment Finn Wolfhard is now receiving just for the "crime" of shaving his head and being deemed no longer conventionally attractive by the fandom:

Yes, the general audience found out about Finn's Jewish heritage and now he's a target, too.

And this fandom is at fault for it.

You cannot normalize bigotry towards one person and expect it to stay contained to that one person. It will always harm everyone in that community. Finn Wolfhard—or any other actor/actress—being your favorite is not going to spare him from the consequences of a discourse you started.

ALL antisemitism and ALL homophobia needs to be called out. The people who insist it's okay that they do that for ANY reason—regardless of if they themselves are LGBTQIA+ or not—need to be ejected from the fandom and never let back in.

Noah Schnapp is a human being. He does not deserve this treatment. No one does. No one is saying you have to like him or even care about him. But you SHOULD care that this is how he's being treated and the impact it is having on others. The impact on Jewish people. The impact on queer people. Standing up and saying that does not mean you support genocide or murder or bigotry of any kind. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I am a person with left-leaning values. I'm tired of those values being spat on and dragged through the mud by people who think THIS is activism or is in any way helping a cause. It's not. All it is doing is perpetuating harm on a real person and real communities—queer and Jewish alike. And it needs to stop.

Related Blogs:

I've compiled some related blogs that expand on other elements of the situation that I've mentioned above in greater detail. This post was already long enough. I'll be updating this as more content comes out.

Examples of Noah’s Support for Gaza and Palestine (by @nymphus-fan-account)

The Evolution of a Lie

No, the Stranger Things Cast Does Not Hate Noah Schnapp

Lyric Vault’s Obsession with Noah Schnapp

[bylerst5]

things Noah said at the Outdoor Film Festival in Italy today that i remember off the top of my head (i’ll post the videos tomorrow)

-he said he’s proud of Will in S5 because he stops taking shit from everyone (his exact words) and stand ups for himself

-there’ll be no Stranger Things sequels after S5 and he doesn’t want to play Will again because the ending is too good

-he said he wants to be as good as a person as Will is

-after ST5 he wants to do film/theater (mentioned sadie) and no tv shows

-he, at some point asked the audience “Which character do you think will die in S5?” and “Whats yall fav ship?”

-he said we’ll cry a lot at the end

-in S2 he used to look up videos of ppl having seizures for the possession scene, he only got an acting coach for S5

-S2 was the hardest season to film

-his fav fans are south americans and italians

-his fav place in Italy is Naples (he visited Italy three times)

-he wants to go on Love Island

-he’s afraid of people high expectations for this season

-he’s always wanted to play Spiderman

@noahschnappinfs @finnoahsource @kingsdesire007

[sikoi]

[finnoahsource]

soooo... looks like all the boys in the party are wearing the bracelets? 🥹

(unsure if more of the cast are, I think maya might have one on too in that group pic but for now I'm just enjoying this little detail til we see any better pics of them!)

[willfreakbyers]

Them trying to act all nonchalant as if byler isn't endgame 😭🙏

[hawkins-batman]

The Noah Schnapp Situation Going Into S5

‼️ There is a new version of this blog post! Please read here ‼️

With Stranger Things Season 5 coming out this year, we are unfortunately going to see a revival of the debacle around Noah, even though by then it will be an almost 2 year old subject. So, I thought I would get ahead of that with some of my thoughts based on what I've seen these last few weeks and more broadly over the last 6 or more months I've been on this scene.

Spoiler Alert: This is going to be a long one. It'll probably be my new pinned post.

Why Still Talk About It?

Frankly? Because it's still going on. Keep in mind, Liam Payne died in October 2024 (just three months ago), right around Noah's birthday, and THIS is how Twitter responded to that.

And just in case anyone thinks I had to dig back a whole 3 months to find Noah-hate-content on Twitter, here was just random things I grabbed from the last week:

Which brings me to the next point.

Why Do You Even Care?

"Noah doesn't know you." "He's not your pookie."

I know that. The funny thing is, from what little I know about Noah, I'm pretty sure if he DID know me beyond the ONE DM conversation we've had, he'd probably tell me to chill. Dude is very non-confrontational and nice. So, why do it?

Because I think the online movement in favor of Palestinian self-determination has been hijacked by teenagers and performative leftists who care more about looking good for their peers than practicing what they preach.

Because (as you can see above and in screenshots like the one below), people who claim to hold my liberal/progressive/left-leaning values have used this as an opportunity to be openly homophobic and antisemitic towards a then-19-year old who had JUST come out of the closet.

Proponents of the hate campaign against Noah have said that they are just "holding him accountable" or "criticizing him" in the hopes he "learns something."

Look up. Point to me which image is accountability. Point to me the valid criticisms.

There are none. There is just flagrant homophobia. And then there are posts like these two, coming from the same crowd:

This behavior is wrong on its face.

It is violent. It is bullying (which doesn't seem like strong enough of a word) and it's bigoted.

Wanna see more? Look up @noah_schnapp on Twitter/X. See what they've done to his account.

Inevitably, some of the people participating in this will see this blog post. If you've made it this far, this is for you:

This behavior discredits your activism. It makes you look performative and fake to say in one breath that you are a "Leftist" who cares about Palestinian lives as well as the lives of minority groups worldwide, and then to turn around and talk like this about a Jewish person and a gay KID. Because he WAS a kid when this started. Furthermore, it makes it clear to those of us who actually hold the beliefs we claim, that you are vapid enough to use Palestinian suffering for your own personal vendettas. That the APPEARANCE of goodness is more important than goodness itself. And that you will shuck solidarity with minority groups the MOMENT one of them steps out of the lines you have drawn around them.

Not to mention...

It's Based Mostly On Lies

As a reminder, this is what Noah Schnapp actually said shortly after October 7, 2023:

Read that again.

"...we will hope and pray for safety, justice, liberation, and self-determination in Palestine." That was part of the very first thing he ever said about the issue.

And then this happened:

This was the image/video he was crucified for.

Stickers that weren't even his. That he wasn't holding up or making. He was in a cafe, someone else came up to him with them, and he was videoed with that person.

That's it. That's all. All those tweets you saw above? The fake stories made up about him like this one?

All of that was supposedly "accountability."

The harassment of his family. Murder threats. Rape threats. All for stickers that weren't even his.

There's even a paid Stranger Things author on this very site, styling herself as a Byler shipper, who has contributed to the lies that have further added to the hate campaign I've described.

As an aside, Noah wasn't the only one in that video. The influencers that actually posted the video and HAD THE STICKERS?

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

And just to be clear - I don't think they should get hate. I think non-Jewish online Leftists appropriated a term from Jewish culture, redefined it, and are weaponizing it to beat down Jews all over the internet—which is par for the course for this charcuterie board of performative activism.

Yet the point stands. Noah was specifically targeted; and the homophobia that IMMEDIATELY came from the Left suggests to me that it was his sexuality and cultural/religious identity that motivated the attacks.

Again, I'll say, this is wrong.

Noah Has Since Responded

It hasn't stopped the bullying.

Didn't stop him from withdrawing from spaces he loved. From needing therapy from what we've learned from his now-deleted second TikTok.

And that really says something, does it? He cleared up his point. He tried to clarify and even apologize.

They didn't accept it. Not because it wasn't good enough. Not because it was "too late." Because this was the point. They wanted to keep doing it. They get sick joy from it.

Which is why...

I'm Not Shutting Up About This

This post doesn't even nearly cover the whole situation. The Byler fans who try to replace Noah's image in fan art and fan fiction. Who fan cast themselves as Will instead of Noah. The stalking and doxxing on Twitter. People reporting to GIANT hate accounts his location and when he's alone, PRAYING for him to be hurt.

I wish I could cover it all.

We have to stand up to this. On tumblr, on TikTok, on Threads, Twitter/X—everywhere we see it.

For our gay and Jewish siblings who see how Noah was attacked and feel less safe in their online spaces as a result, we have to speak up and say something.

And yeah. We have to say something for Noah, too.

The person who replied to me like this:

Him?

He did it because he needed to see a show of love from his fans. Doesn't mean he's perfect. Doesn't mean he won't mess up or do something in the future.

And no. Standing up for Noah, or for Jewish people, or other gay folks does not make you a genocide supporter or apologist. It doesn't mean you want any innocent people harmed. Don't give them the power to talk down to you like that. It's bullshit. You know it, and I know it.

All standing up to this vile shit is is an acknowledgement that Noah is a living, breathing person, as some of these people tend to forget.

And he didn't deserve this.

Any of it.

Related Blogs:

Examples of Noah’s Support for Gaza and Palestine (by @nymphus-fan-account)

The Evolution of a Lie

No, the Stranger Things Cast Does Not Hate Noah Schnapp

Lyric Vault’s Obsession with Noah Schnapp

[reo-bylerwagon]

which could mean nothing… or everything

[calorgansout]

yall remember oskar @100geeks? yeah he's not on tumblr anymore but he let me show you guys that he got the coolest fucking tattoo in the history of the zero day community 💯💯

[otamega8]

My work for the NaruSasu Fanzine: Amor Fati. Celebrities Naruto and Sasuke had their first encounter with  paparazzi after the dating rumor!!

[nymphus-fan-account]

Photo dump of Noah supporting Palestine 🇵🇸 (will be updating)

Comment section under one of videos on First Shadow Broadway premiere (most comments including this were deleted lately):

A Palestinian charity organiser coming out saying Noah donated to their children including Gazans.

This IG post:

Look who liked 👀

Noah's IG post from early 2024 (full post on the right):

"We will hope and pray for safety, justice, liberation and self-determination in Palestine"

Noah on the sticker videos drama, adding that he knows people who were held hostage in Gaza and talks with his Palestinian bestfriend about the situation a lot:

"Hey guys! I appreciate you reaching out. To give you context, I did not post this language or sticker. I was at breakfast with friends, it happened to be an Israeli cafe, and a girl was handing out stickers. Someone photographed me and posted and tagged me.

As you guys know better than most people, social media can be used however people want to use it. I understand the weight of the situation and take it very seriously.

I have friends of friends who are currently being held hostage in Gaza right now. My friends kids were killed in the massacre at the Israeli music festival. Standing up against this terrorism is important to me and why I made my statement after the attack. As one of the only few Jewish people with a platform, I absolutely think it's important to share my message against hatred for Jews around the world right now.

However, everyone online is obviously twisting everything and saying I support genocide and am islamophobic which is obviously entirely false and never have I stated either of those things. Seeing what is happening to the innocent people in Palestine pains me so much and I wish it would stop.

I fully support everyone in Palestine as I said in my post on instagram. One of my best friends in college is Palestinian and we talk about this issue alllll the time and agree on most things. I think people on social media are just animalistic right now so it's hard to even chime in because they just wanna rip me apart so now I'm staying out of it."

Slightly unrelated but here's Palestinians defending Noah on tiktok

Credits for screenshots to: @hawkins-batman

[youweremygoal]

Family, Food, and Gaiden

a lot of people have already talked at length about the bento scene in gaiden, but I wanted to do it too, and specifically how it, gaiden, and the rest of the manga posit (through naruto himself and outside observers) what family is, and that by that metric nh aren't a true family. namely, food and protection. long post warning i like to talk.

so first let's set the stage and go back to chapter 3, where it's observed by kakashi that naruto has been drinking expired milk:

chapter 3 is a huge chapter for establishing naruto the character, it's early on enough that any information we're presented about him is going to massively affect our perception of the character, where chapter 1 is the turning point in his life through iruka, this is the one that really sets the status quo; naruto has a rivalry with sasuke and a 'crush' on sakura, and we're shown sasuke understands naruto's loneliness. we're shown naruto lives alone and eats alone and the food he eats is expired. we get three panels at the end of this chapter of outsiders (kakashi and hiruzen) commenting on naruto's home, and two are dedicated to pointing out the milk, which makes it the most memorable detail and more likely to affect the readers understanding of naruto. while it's part of the comedic story of the chapter, it also symbolises his loneliness, his lack of a family.

so next is iruka. before iruka protects him, he offers to buy naruto food. while iruka's bodily protection is a very obvious bonding moment between the two, it's the offer of food that sets the stage for them actually bonding:

naruto also reflects specifically on them eating together, rather than physically saving him, when calling iruka his family at vote1:

this is connected later in chapter 536, where iruka reflects that he thinks of naruto as a brother (which also lightly refutes narutos vote1 misunderstanding of their relationship being fatherly, and that it further refutes the sns 'brothers' thing, but that's besides the point)

specifically, he thinks of himself as unable to protect naruto and that that means he's failing to live up to being family. but bee, an outside observer, recognises that they are family regardless:

and this page ends with naruto eating the letter iruka wrote him, emphasising that it's not just protection that makes a family but food.

so let's go to gaiden and talk more about outsiders. there are five people present in the first part of the bento scene, most importantly boruto, sarada, and shikamaru. boruto is the only one who could be considered a part of the nh dynamic, and he's visibly upset about what he sees in that relationship:

sarada's role in this scene is to tell us explicitly the meaning of the food, boruto's is to show his dissatisfaction with the state of his father's relationships to him and hinata, but shikamaru's is to take over what naruto isn't there to say (his apology), just as bee did above with iruka, and to watch the rest unfold, and we see him every three or so panels, reemphasising that his observation is a critical part of this scene. the big difference is he can't offer any true reassurance, he can't help them, he can only give instructions and relay messages, because unlike iruka and naruto's relationship, this one has no solid foundation

gaiden further emphasises the connection between food and family through cho cho. when we first see her and choji in a scene we understand she knows her father well through her observations on his chip habits (and serves to further show sarada's lack of a father). the chips are not just food but symbolic of cho cho's connection with her father

which is why she offers them to sasuke to make up with sarada, even bringing the same flavours as in the above panels. it may come across simplistic, even naive, but it also evokes the lack of connection between sasuke and sarada

speaking of offering food, let's quickly go back to the bento

speaks for itself really but it also parallels iruka as the first change and moment we, the readers, see of bonding between sasuke and naruto is not training together or the bodily protection of the land of waves, but once again the offer of food. he also goes on to eat lunch together with sarada and cho cho, but won't come home for dinner. also the favourite restaurant tidbit:

so it's not just the offering of food but the sharing of food too, we go back to chapter 152, where naruto observes a father and son sharing an icey pole, and even mentions food waiting at home.

it's another physical symbol of his loneliness, and the association of family, through jiraiya, and then connected again to iruka

furthermore, the minato one shot strengthens this connection by having minato and jiraiya share the same food in the same scenario of training the rasengan (which in turn was created for kushina)

kushina and minato are also associated with food in their relationship to naruto, firstly through his name

but more importantly through their few and last moments with him. the first thing kushina says with her last words is her wish for him to eat well, it's an extension of her wish for him to have connection and family.

and in his goodbye to minato, naruto begins by mirroring this speech, listing off the foods he likes; these moments are bookends so obviously they'd mirror each other but it shows an understanding on naruto's part of the role food plays in his relationships, and a deeper connection by him listing specifically foods he likes, letting his father know actual facts about him (something cho cho knew about her father)

he also assures his father he does now have connections:

so back to gaiden once more. when naruto talks about family he says what's most important is love:

when sarada reflects on her mother after this, she's specifically shown eating, because food is connection and family. this was about her yearning for a relationship to her father, while her mother was the one there for her, providing her food

in contrast, nh have never shared food. hinata's offer of food is delivered through boruto and sarada, not from her own hands, and the entire scenario is subject to criticism from the characters and readers. when naruto receives the food he thinks of sasuke instead, someone he has claimed as family over the course of the series, and who is shown through the series to meet the criteria of love and family as food and protection. ergo, nh are not truly family in the eyes of the narrative.

as an addition, ss do not actually share food either. in chapter 173 he physically rejects sakura's offer of food:

when they do end up 'sharing a meal' in gaiden, they're actually not. beyond the fact they both look miserable, this scene is about appeasing sarada, showing her in a naive contrast to boruto from earlier who accurately understands his parents lack of connection. it's the same as the previous scene where she thinks back on her mother, eating her mothers food and wanting a connection with her father. the table shown only seats two either side, in fact we don't even know that as we can't accurately see how wide it is, we see no place set up for sakura, she's not part of this meal beyond making it. and unlike sarada who is obviously ready to eat by the chopsticks in her hand, sasuke has made no move to touch the food. he is not an active participant in this meal, and therefore in this relationship

[willfreakbyers]

Can we admire how beautiful the lighting in this shot is

And how ethereal will looks