Gaten Matarazzo’s Dustin isn’t the leader of the Stranger Things kids, but he did get a subplot to call his own in the show’s recent second season where he feeds divisive candy bars to a gross little monster. Ever a hustler, Matarazzo has now parlayed that popular gig into a new job with Ocean County in New Jersey making PSAs about encouraging teens to drive safely. As an Associated Press story explains, Matarazzo is a native of Little Egg harbor Township in Ocean County, and the videos—dubbed “Right Turns”—will feature him talking about “distracted driving” and “how to interact with police during traffic stops.” The videos were just recently filmed, so it doesn’t seem like they’ve been publicly released yet, but they’ll at least be shown in high schools at some point.
One interesting wrinkle in all of this is that Matarazzo is only 15, meaning he’s not even allowed to drive a car yet. Teens are notoriously picky about who they will and will not pay attention to, so the idea of someone who cannot drive telling them how to drive seems a little weird. That being said, it is Dustin from Stranger Things, and he’s pretty rad.
